Over the past number of weeks, I have written about a few of our native deciduous trees, trees which shed their leaves seasonally. For a change this week, let me introduce you to one of our few native evergreen trees, a tree which is also one of the oldest living within northern Europe and Ireland. This elder statesman of our local tree kingdom is the conifer, taxus baccata, also known as the yew, or as Gaeilge, an Iúr.

Conical in shape, but broad, yew is a tree which can grow up to 20 metres high in the wild, but is often used as a hedging plant due to its ease of clipping, shaping and regeneration after hard pruning. It is worth noting that for hedging, Yew is reserved for the patient gardener, as it is quite slow growing to begin with. You may often see it grown as a backdrop to shrub and perennial planting due to the neutral canvas-like effect of its leaf cover.

Yew leaves can be recognised by their 2 to 3 cm length and needle-like shape, displaying a strong rib down the centre of the leaf. These flat, dark green leaves are held on branches above the Yews attractively grooved supporting trunks, which often flake to reveal reddish patches. The male Yew trees produce cones like most conifers, but the female plants instead produce pretty, bright-red autumn berries containing one seed a-piece from early September.

At this point, I feel it is my duty to make you aware that the leaves, bark, wood, and seeds of the Yew tree are extremely poisonous if eaten. Birds, primarily the thrush, which feast upon the harmless sticky fleshed fruit of the Yew, survive as the poisonous seeds embedded within the fruit pass unbitten through them. That is the secret to their survival.

As you pass many older graveyards throughout Ireland, you will see within them many fine examples of mature upward growing Yew trees known as Taxus baccata 'Fastigiata' or Irish Yew. There are innumerable theories as to why this particular tree was continually planted upon sacred ground, my three particular favourites being…

• The Yew is poisonous, so therefore it is the tree of death.
• The Yew is poisonous, so it was planted within walled graveyards to keep it away from grazing livestock.
• The Yew is long lived, so it symbolises immortality and the idea that death is not for ever.

Take your pick!

As mentioned, the Yew is a long-lived tree, but how long lived?

Extremely long lived is the answer, for example, Muckross Abbey in Killarney (founded in about 1448) has a courtyard that contains a Yew thought to be as old as the abbey itself. Unbelievably, the oldest tree in Europe is said to be a 3,000-year-old Yew within a churchyard in Fortingall, Scotland.

So, if you want to grow a tree, which will, with some care, last long after you are gone, then choose Yew. It will withstand shade, dry soil and air pollution. A planting location within free-draining and preferably alkaline soil, are its basic needs.

Until next week, happy gardening and remember that a weed is just a plant in the wrong place.

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