Yew berry - description and photo, conditions for growing an evergreen perennial

What is the adult yew berry, description and photo? I ordered seedlings, now I'm thinking where it is better to plant them. How tall will a yew tree grow and is it true that you can eat its fruits?

Green needles, brown bark and scarlet berries of this plant not only look gorgeous. It is also quite unpretentious, lends itself well to pruning and will delight the eye for more than one generation, since it lives for a long time. One of the most popular crops is berry yew, the description and photo of which we will consider today. Its dense crown, which can be easily adjusted by cutting, is ideal for hedges. If you do not restrain the growth of the tree, then it will grow to almost 30 m in height. True, this will not happen soon.

Yew berry - description and photo

It owes its name to unusual fruits, similar to small red cherries, which are densely strewn with branches. Yew belongs to the yew family and is an evergreen perennial. He belongs to the group of centenarians, and the years of his life are counted not even in tens and hundreds, but in thousands of years.

Berry yew is a very slow growing crop. For 20 years, the tree grows a maximum of 2 m in height. But it looks very nice. Numerous shoots are covered with smooth red bark and many long, up to 3.5 mm, shiny needles. From above, they are painted dark green, and the underside of the needles is paler. Small bumps are tied in the axils of the leaves-needles. Inside the seeds, and on top they are covered with an annular flesh membrane of red color and with a sweet taste.

All parts of the yew tree are poisonous except for the red shell. Moreover, the older the tree, the more poisonous toxins in its needles.

In the wild, you can rarely find yew today. And the people who cut down trees for the sake of valuable timber are to blame for this. It is used for construction and furniture making. Yew wood is very beautiful, almost like ebony in color. In addition, it has a strong bactericidal effect.

Features of growing yew

An evergreen perennial is unpretentious and lends itself well to pruning. Therefore, they are happy to plant it in parks and private plots. Yew is not picky about lighting, can grow in partial shade, but prefers light, moist and slightly acidic soil.

Caring for the tree is simple, and mostly concerns young plants:

1. In hot summer, they need to be watered regularly, especially young trees. Adult large yews have a developed root system that extends far into the depths. They are able to provide themselves with moisture and food from the underground layers.
2. In the spring, it will not hurt to add mineral complex fertilizers for conifers.
3. For the winter, young yew trees need to be covered with spandbond, and their near-stem circle needs to be mulched with sawdust.

Yew is propagated at home mainly by cuttings. At the same time, to get a slender tree, you should take only shoots growing vertically. Cuttings cut from horizontal twigs will produce sprawling low shrubs.

Yew berry and its varieties