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| Has anyone used English yews (Taxus baccata 'Repandens') as foundation plants? I want to replace the yews along my front porch. We currently have yews there now (don't remember the variety), but because of their growth characteristics, they have ended up being trimmed into the typical ball shape. I am looking for replacement shrubs that will be easier to keep in their soft flowing, natural form. The English yew was recommended.
If you have these planted, can you tell me if they are easy to maintain in a natural form? From what I have read, they can get quite wide, but are suppose to be easy to keep smaller. When I search on them to find out how wide they can grow to, the measurements are all over the place. |
Follow-Up Postings:
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- Posted by ken_adrian z5 (My Page) on Mon, Apr 11, 11 at 15:23
| hey brenda .... yews are conifers ... there is a conifer forum where we enable peeps to the max .. lots of pix posted .. etc ... though i do not care where you post link to intro to conifers ... the key there is the info on annual growth rates.. as trees.. they will grow at a given rate for most of your life ... flowing, as you call it ... MOST size estimates are simply the annual rate times 10 years ... and as you well know.. the darn things just keep growing .. FOREVER ... yews are TAXUS .... use the database at the link.. to find taxus ... and see if that gets you anywhere ... do understand.. that foundation plantings.. are planted to hide the foundation.. not ON THE FOUNDATION .... to properly site a conifer.. you should understand its growth rate.. and then give it enough room to grow.. that is how you avoid shearing ... which is one of my personal nightmares from childhood ... good luck ken |
Here is a link that might be useful: link
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| Ken, Thanks for the info; I totally overlooked the conifer forum and will check and post in it. I agree with the purpose and siting of foundation plantings, something our landscaper sure did not properly plan for. Personally, I would not even have this type of planting in our house front except that I know my husband likes the look. |
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| Their natural, unpruned form is their beauty. They get very wide, and not very tall, but develop a lovely layered effect. I've seen them used in spacious shrub borders and near corners of deep foundation gardens, where they can grow at their own pace to their mature size. The green of the needles is really a deep rich dark green. They grow slowly, and there's no point waiting for them to mature only to prune them when they get big. They are not inexpensive, so if you don't have the perfect spot, I would find something else. That's my humble opinion! |
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| Yes, large in time. One in a park in a county north of here was determined to have an average crown spread of 37' during 1995. The basis for the development of foundation planting was the erection of building with unappealing exposed foundations. Structures not having this drawback may not need foundation plantings. |
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