Densiformis Yew

Plants become popular for a reason, whether it's because they are easy-care, beautiful, disease-resistant and simply look great anywhere! The Densiformis Yew (Taxus x media 'Densiformis') is popular for ALL of those reasons and then some. Growing 4 feet tall and 4-6 feet wide, these are wonderful soft-needled mid-sized shrubs!

Soft, fluffy, new growth in early spring gives the shrub bright green needles that continue to mature to a rich, deep green that holds all growing season and into the winter's monotonous months. Dress them up as fancy pruned topiary - or dress them down in a rustic or contemporary yard. But for heaven's sake, use them anywhere you need some year-round structure!

These shrubs even look fantastic when grown in their fluffy, tidy natural beauty! Leaving them to grow naturally allows you to see the tiny yellowish blossoms the pollinators love, and later emerging red fruit that encases the seeds your local songbirds adore!

Classic Densiformis is back in a big way, but it has moved beyond the foundation planting! In winter, you need this lovely, rich dark green color to act as the "bones" of the garden design. These shrubs have been tried and tested along the foundation of houses for decades. Simply put, these easy-care plants work. Some Yew specimens have been known to grow for thousands of years!

Planting and Application:

One of the most popular evergreen shrubs today, you will find this beauty in residential foundation plantings, commercial landscapes, and container gardens all over America.

Consider adding a single Yew as a specimen in the corner of your house. In this case, we'd recommend that you don't clip it into shape. Instead, allow it to grow to its natural mature size. It will instantly ground the landscape and add a ruggedly handsome presence. And remember, you don't need a straight row of them, either.

It's still great to bring year-round color in foundation plantings without the worry your shrub will outgrow the space and block windows, but people are also now using them in many other areas in the landscape!

Densiformis responds beautifully to trimming much like a Boxwood! Japanese Yews like Densiformis make fantastic hedges and are great for adding structure to a garden even creating outdoor rooms. Whether sheared into formal hedges or rounded forms or allowed to grow a bit more naturally, Yews are very easy to care for!

Use Densiformis as a beautiful backdrop for seasonal displays of perennials or smaller flowering shrubs. Give your design a sense of balance with evergreen Yews in the winter months. Try a curved planting to define the walls of a Garden Room or Meditation Garden. You probably don't want a fortress, but you do need a screen. In this application, Densiformis gives them room to grow naturally. You'll adore the gentle sense of total privacy they bring on your patio, too.

In shaded areas, mass plant them as an understory plant and add Azaleas and Rhododendrons in the more shaded areas. Or, you can grow them in complete sun in the rose garden and sunny perennial gardens too.

• Rich, Dark Green Fluffy Evergreen
• Year Round Color Gives Structure
• Soft Year-Round Needles, Tiny Flowers & Red Summer Berries
• Pollinator & Songbird Friendly Food & Shelter
• Easy-Care Structure, Privacy & Hedging Plant

#ProPlantTips for Care:

Densiformis and all other Japanese Yew selections ask only one thing from you - perfectly well-drained soils are a must. If you have any part of your landscape that stays wet a bit longer after rains, then avoid those areas.

Let's say you really want to grow a Yew where the soil is too wet, you can simply raise the planting bed by adding some native soil on top of the area to raise the planting area and they will do fine. Either full sun or complete shade and everything in between, and it grows beautifully.

Not only is it a low-maintenance shrub, but Densiformis is tolerant to pollution, rabbits, and slightly saline seashore breezes! Provide regular moisture for new plants, but once established, supplemental moisture keeps your shrubs growing their best during trying times of the year. Evergreens also appreciate winter watering.

If you are the pruning type, then after that first flush of growth, it is time to prune. Usually by about the 4th of July. The natural method would be to just shorten up any elongated stems back into the body of the plant.

Naturally grown hedges make a fantastic soft barrier with really little upkeep. Sheared hedges really need one trim a year, best done early in summer, with a later summer nip and tuck of a few errant branches. It is better not to do shearing in the fall but after that first push of growth in spring, instead.

When growing Densiformis as a hedge, be sure to leave the lowest portion of the plant the widest and keep the tops a bit narrower. When you trim it this way, the plant will stay green right to the ground, which is what you want.

Older plants can be rejuvenated by trimming out longer portions of the plant back to a part of the stem that still has needles on it. It can then produce new buds and generate new growth from that point.

• Versatile Plant Handles Sun & Shade
• Must Have Well-Drained Soils
• Moderate Moisture Needs
• Appreciates Mulched Beds
• Tolerates Urban Conditions & Some Saline/Coastal Environments
• Prune/Shear After First Flush of Growth

We're watching a renewed interest in the green foliage of Japanese Yews! People are loving this part shade loving evergreen. Densiformis Yew is an amazing evergreen that should not be left out of any landscape. Versatile, and hard-working, order the Densiformis Yew as a beautiful "workhorse" shrub - the bigger, the better - and start innovating with this proven plant today!