Taxus baccata - 2 litre (Yew Tree)

(Full plant info in our Plant Finder)

This is often described as the ultimate hedging plant. It has neat, dark green needles and is happy to take close clipping. In The Cottage Garden, Geoff Hamilton says 'This most perfect of hedges can be clipped to form a green, living wall. ' If left to its own devices, it makes a handsome tree, with red-brown bark and a dense, broad, dark canopy.
Yew is poisonous and, if used as a hedge, should never be planted on a boundary where it could be grazed. It is a native of Britain and Ireland. Its wood used to be favoured for the manufacture of bows and was once planted as a sacred tree, which is why it is often to be found in churchyards.