The Great Importance of Yew— By wilhelm Mill 



<=»t- New 

 CT, York 



ONE of the most artistic gardens in 

 England is the one at Broadway 

 Gloucestershire, England, for which Mrs. 

 Francis D. Millet, wife of the famous 

 American artist is responsible. A singular 

 feature of the garden is the quaint old tower 

 shown in the accompanying picture. I 

 believe it was used as a viewing place by an 

 eccentric former owner, but its history is of no 

 consequence for my purpose, since this is 

 obviously the sort of feature which it would 

 be foolish not to preserve, but which it would 

 be equally foolish for you or me to build. 



The important thing to which I wish to 

 call attention is the superb old trimmed 

 hedge of yew in front of that tower. There 

 is not a hole or break in it anywhere, or any 

 patch of a different color. The uniformity 

 and density of it are a marvel and a joy. 

 And, most important of all, see what a 

 splendid background it makes for the 

 flowers! How fine it would be to have a 

 flower garden surrounded by a high wall 

 of yew, as one often sees in England ! 



Alas, the English yew (Taxus baccata) is 

 not sufficiently hardy in the Northern 

 United States. Our nearest equivalent is 

 the Japanese yew (Taxus cuspidata) which 



is hardy, but little known. Our native yew 

 (Taxus Canadensis) or "ground hemlock," 

 has the same flat spray and feathery texture 

 as the English yew and American hemlock, 

 but since it is practically a trailing plant, 

 no one ever thinks of it as a possible sub- 

 stitute for English yew. Nevertheless, I 

 am not at all sure that it could not be trained 

 and trimmed as a hedge and it is possible 

 that some one may discover a single plant 

 of it which naturally grows erect and could 

 be persuaded to attain a height of six or 

 eight feet. Indeed Mr. Rehder declares 

 that in cultivation the American yew gen- 

 erally becomes more upright. And I have 

 even heard of a variety, macrophylla, obtain- 

 able from a nursery in France which is said 

 to attain a height of ten feet in eight years! 

 The best tall evergreen hedge for flower 

 gardens, in my opinion, is box, but that 

 must be protected from winter winds and 

 sunshine and is therefore out of the question 

 for most American families. The choice 

 generally narrows right down to hemlock, 

 which has practically the same texture as 

 English yew. It is not quite as dark, but 

 it is rich, shining and more cheerful than 

 yew. I have strong faith that, as the 



centuries roll by, hemlock will become our 

 favorite evergreen hedge for ornamental 

 purposes. It grows faster than yew, but 

 is likely to lose its foliage at the base. How- 

 ever, such gaps can be obscured by planting 

 small, cheap hemlocks in such a way, that, 

 when trimmed, they seem to be part of the 

 original hedge. 



Although hemlock grows more quickly 

 than yew it is far too slow for the average 

 American in our present mood. But we 

 must learn patience from the Englishman. 

 The American who "can't wait" plants 

 privet — a vile substitute — and of course 

 his place lacks charm. We ought to buy 

 old sections of hemlock hedge, root-prune 

 them, transplant them and patch them up. 

 Of if we cannot afford this we ought to plant 

 hemlock and wait. Never, never, never 

 shall we have American gardens as charm- 

 ing as the English until we learn to be as 

 patient as the English. Your typical Eng- 

 lishman is not appalled at the idea of wait- 

 ing twenty years for a yew hedge ten feet 

 high. And neither should we. Those twenty 

 years are not a blank. There is beauty 

 enough while you are waiting for the supreme 

 touch that age alone can give. 





A splendid piece of yew in the garden of Mr. and Mrs. Francis D. Millet at Broadway, Gloucestershire, England 



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