I have a Yew tree at the end of my garden (lots of birds eating the
berries, could they be fieldfare's..sort of like a thrush but agang of
them?) anyway it's about 35ft tall, nice and bushy. But the branches
go all the way down the trunk and touch the floor. Some birds kept
getting caught by something (hawk) going by the way the feathers and
doiwn is spread. Never seen a Yet tree with branches to the ground
anyway and I'd like to trim them up about five foot up the trunk from
the ground. Question is does the tree grow from the top upwards, in
which case my five foot gap will always be there, or does it grow from
the ground up, so eventually my five foot gap will end up 50ft in the
air, if you get what I mean?

thanks

In article ,
says...
I have a Yew tree at the end of my garden (lots of birds eating the
berries, could they be fieldfare's..sort of like a thrush but agang of
them?) anyway it's about 35ft tall, nice and bushy. But the branches
go all the way down the trunk and touch the floor. Some birds kept
getting caught by something (hawk) going by the way the feathers and
doiwn is spread. Never seen a Yet tree with branches to the ground
anyway and I'd like to trim them up about five foot up the trunk from
the ground. Question is does the tree grow from the top upwards, in
which case my five foot gap will always be there, or does it grow from
the ground up, so eventually my five foot gap will end up 50ft in the
air, if you get what I mean?

thanks

Not completely sure I have understood! but yew regrows from old wood so
where ever you cut it it will sprout new growth from the cut ends so to
keep your skirts lifted you will have to recut from time to time.
There are two main types of Yew, Irish which has multi stems and English
which tends to form a main trunk
--
Charlie Pridham, Gardening in Cornwall
www.roselandhouse.co.uk
Holders of national collections of Clematis viticella cultivars and
Lapageria rosea

"lloyd" wrote in message
...
I have a Yew tree at the end of my garden (lots of birds eating the
berries, could they be fieldfare's..sort of like a thrush but agang of
them?) anyway it's about 35ft tall, nice and bushy. But the branches
go all the way down the trunk and touch the floor. Some birds kept
getting caught by something (hawk) going by the way the feathers and
doiwn is spread. Never seen a Yet tree with branches to the ground
anyway and I'd like to trim them up about five foot up the trunk from
the ground. Question is does the tree grow from the top upwards, in
which case my five foot gap will always be there, or does it grow from
the ground up, so eventually my five foot gap will end up 50ft in the
air, if you get what I mean?

thanks

Yes, you can certainly trim away the lower branches without harming or
stunting the growth of the tree. However, unlike most conifers, yews will
respout from old wood, so you will need to trim regrowth back to the trunk
from time to time. As it happens, I'm doing the same thing with my Yew
tree, but allowing some regrowth on the trunk so it has a green, textured
'overcoat', which I believe will look nicer (and be more wildlife-friendly)
than a bare trunk.

Spider

On Fri, 25 Sep 2009 13:45:04 +0100, "Spider"
wrote:


"lloyd" wrote in message
.. .
I have a Yew tree at the end of my garden (lots of birds eating the
berries, could they be fieldfare's..sort of like a thrush but agang of
them?) anyway it's about 35ft tall, nice and bushy. But the branches
go all the way down the trunk and touch the floor. Some birds kept
getting caught by something (hawk) going by the way the feathers and
doiwn is spread. Never seen a Yet tree with branches to the ground
anyway and I'd like to trim them up about five foot up the trunk from
the ground. Question is does the tree grow from the top upwards, in
which case my five foot gap will always be there, or does it grow from
the ground up, so eventually my five foot gap will end up 50ft in the
air, if you get what I mean?

thanks

Yes, you can certainly trim away the lower branches without harming or
stunting the growth of the tree. However, unlike most conifers, yews will
respout from old wood, so you will need to trim regrowth back to the trunk
from time to time. As it happens, I'm doing the same thing with my Yew
tree, but allowing some regrowth on the trunk so it has a green, textured
'overcoat', which I believe will look nicer (and be more wildlife-friendly)
than a bare trunk.

thank you for the replies chaps. It would seem the Yew is quite a
special tree too and is best left alone, so I think I might leave it
after all.

"lloyd" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 25 Sep 2009 13:45:04 +0100, "Spider"

wrote:


"lloyd" wrote in message
. ..
I have a Yew tree at the end of my garden (lots of birds
eating the
berries, could they be fieldfare's..sort of like a thrush but
agang of
them?) anyway it's about 35ft tall, nice and bushy. But the
branches
go all the way down the trunk and touch the floor. Some birds
kept
getting caught by something (hawk) going by the way the
feathers and
doiwn is spread. Never seen a Yet tree with branches to the
ground
anyway and I'd like to trim them up about five foot up the
trunk from
the ground. Question is does the tree grow from the top
upwards, in
which case my five foot gap will always be there, or does it
grow from
the ground up, so eventually my five foot gap will end up
50ft in the
air, if you get what I mean?

thanks

Yes, you can certainly trim away the lower branches without
harming or
stunting the growth of the tree. However, unlike most
conifers, yews will
respout from old wood, so you will need to trim regrowth back
to the trunk
from time to time. As it happens, I'm doing the same thing
with my Yew
tree, but allowing some regrowth on the trunk so it has a
green, textured
'overcoat', which I believe will look nicer (and be more
wildlife-friendly)
than a bare trunk.

thank you for the replies chaps. It would seem the Yew is quite
a
special tree too and is best left alone, so I think I might
leave it
after all.

I have heavily pruned some of our many Yews. None seem to have
suffered but all look better for it.

Two very straggly examples I pruned in 2007 have gone from this
http://share.ovi.com/media/Muddymike...uddymike.10275

To this
http://share.ovi.com/media/Muddymike...uddymike.10648 Not
the best of pictures this one as it was taken into the sun.

Mike

On Fri, 25 Sep 2009 13:07:22 +0100, lloyd wrote:

I have a Yew tree at the end of my garden (lots of birds eating the
berries, could they be fieldfare's..sort of like a thrush but agang of
them?) anyway it's about 35ft tall, nice and bushy. But the branches
go all the way down the trunk and touch the floor. Some birds kept
getting caught by something (hawk) going by the way the feathers and
doiwn is spread. Never seen a Yet tree with branches to the ground
anyway and I'd like to trim them up about five foot up the trunk from
the ground. Question is does the tree grow from the top upwards, in
which case my five foot gap will always be there, or does it grow from
the ground up, so eventually my five foot gap will end up 50ft in the
air, if you get what I mean?

Yew does make growth all up the trunk and resprouts whenever and
wherever it is cut. That is why it is used so successfully for
hedging. You will have difficulty shaping it into a specimen tree.
Most conifers will not resprout if cut back to old wood but yew will.

Pam in Bristol

In article ,
lloyd wrote:

thank you for the replies chaps. It would seem the Yew is quite a
special tree too and is best left alone, so I think I might leave it
after all.

But don't worry - yew is very resilient (in all senses), and you
can prune it without worrying about harming it. And the answer to
your question is that your 5' pruned section will remain 5' but,
as people say, may need recreating.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.