The Yew hedge between my front garden and next door neighbours front garden has had a trim last week. It didn't take me long to cut with the electric hedge trimmer. Much, much easier than the many metres of hawthorn and privet at the Cottage. I raked up all the biggest bits and then hoovered the rest up with the lawn mower The hedge must only be 7 years old according to neighbours but has got very wide and tall in that time. I couldn't reach some of the top middle bits but next door neighbour was able to quickly get rid of the straggle. He also volunteered to clear all the small stuff from his lawn - thank goodness. Hopefully it only needs cutting once a year - there's conflicting advice online.
I've not had much to do with Yew trees or hedges- none anywhere I've
lived before but of course they are famously long lived and found in
churchyards all over the country including over the road. Back in the Middle Ages they made the best longbows for archery
Here's the Yew pages from the Complete Flower Fairy Book by Cicely Mary Baker
Looked in my book about the Ogham Tree Alphabet and discovered it's the tree that represents the Winter Solstice so I've made a note to write a blog post about it then.
Wordsworth wrote a poem about them too but it's a bit long to include here, this is a small part.
and Arthur Conan Doyle wrote "The Song of the Bow" HERE
That's enough about the Yew for now
I love the Bow poem, thanks for that link!
ReplyDeleteI'd never heard it before until I found it - love the connection to Hiawatha - on of the few things I remember reading from primary school
DeleteWe had a big long yew hedge when I was a child, the funny looking red berries fascinated me. I'm glad I didn't have to cut it!
ReplyDeleteI don't thing there will be berries on the hedge- think its a male hedge - I shall see later
DeleteIt's a whoppa of a hedge, isn't it. Very protective, I should think, and nice to have greenery to hand over Christmas.
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Like many conifers it's only green on the outside - all the inside is brown and dead looking, so can't cut it back too far
DeleteLiving next to a church yard as I did, the Yew is also very protective of bird's nesting but perhaps a hedge is too compacted.
ReplyDeleteYes it's so dense that there's no room for birds to get into it.
DeleteOur council collects yew clippings for a fortnight every year. You have to do your own clipping, and take it to a special communal bin. Twice a day it gets sent to a lab for research (the clippings have to be really fresh).
ReplyDeleteThat's interesting - wonder what they are researching, although I have vague memories of hearing something about this on TV - something medical maybe?
DeleteThe hedge looks good after its trim.
ReplyDeleteI need to get out my steps and clip off the bits I missed!
DeleteGosh, that has grown very wide in a short time. Glad you were able to trim it easily enough though. I can remember watching birds eating the yew berries from the tree in a friend's garden.
ReplyDeleteI had assumed it had been there longer but neighbours said the previous owners planted it when they moved in. Don't think this will have berries
DeleteWe have various yews and find that they are very resilient, you can cut them back at any time really and unlike conifers you can in fact cut them back into the brown wood and they will regrow. I would suggest doing perhaps one side one year and then the other side the next year and then the top and so on rather than all at once though. You could also just give it a very close haircut if you don't actually want to cut it back to the main stems/trunks. Hope that helps and gives you some confidence in managing the hedge. They are very resilient and much easier to manage than conifers!
ReplyDeleteOh, wish I'd known that before, I would have cut it back a bit harder - at least it's not prickly - it was a pain picking up the Hawthorn cuttings at the cottage
DeleteIn my experience, pruning hedges and trees doesn't take half as long as the clean up afterwards!
ReplyDeleteYou are SO right!
Delete'Portion of this yew
ReplyDeleteIs a man my father knew.' Thomas Hardy. That line gives my daughter the creeps.
We had a yew tree, quite large, in our old garden. It seeded around a lot.
Soory, that should have been grandsire, not father. I thought of it while I was out in the garden!
Deleteand a grandfather before that probably - they are certainly old in churchyards
DeleteLove the Yew Fairy's rhyme Sue. It has cerrainly made a good solid structure. I would guess once a year is enough for cutting.
ReplyDeleteI hope once a year is enough.
DeleteYour Yew hedge looks good. It makes a good green wall and enclosure. One year, thinking I wanted to reduce my hedge, I gave gave it a severe trim and found internally it is all wood and no green. In time it recovered.
ReplyDeleteThats what happened with a Bay tree we had many years ago - it got too big to cut back properly
DeleteYou did a great job trimming that hedge! Hope the Yew fairy was able to escape your trimmer! :)
ReplyDeleteI checked for Yew Fairies before I started and it was OK!
DeleteYews are my favourite tree hence my blog name Aril!
ReplyDeleteI had to look this up - well, well, well. I had no idea !
DeleteGreetings from southern Australia! Last night I watched the Miss Marple 'A pocket full of rye' and I think the first murder was caused by poisoning from yew! I don't think I've seen too many Yew here although the climate in many areas around here would probably be suitable. I will become more observant.It is nearing the end of winter here and the wattle is out everywhere in its golden glory,we are in covid lockdown so the daily exercise walk is our most exciting part of the day.Havea lovely safe week.
ReplyDeleteNice yew hedge. I'm sure it will look nice with the berries. Interesing story and poem. I need to trim back the rose bush out front. The dried roses almost look like paper roses. May do some Tues even though I have things to do indoors. Have a good week.
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