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English Yew | Taxus Baccata | 1m instant Hedging Length
  • English Yew | Taxus Baccata | 1m instant Hedging Length
  • English Yew | Taxus Baccata | 1m instant Hedging Length
  • English Yew | Taxus Baccata | 1m instant Hedging Length
  • English Yew | Taxus Baccata | 1m instant Hedging Length
  • English Yew | Taxus Baccata | 1m instant Hedging Length
  • English Yew | Taxus Baccata | 1m instant Hedging Length
  • English Yew | Taxus Baccata | 1m instant Hedging Length
English Yew | Taxus Baccata | 1m instant Hedging Length

Instant Hedging

English Yew | Taxus Baccata | 1m instant Hedging Length

£320.00
Select Instant Hedging Height

AT A GLANCE

Commonly referred to as the “King of Hedges,” English Yew offers a strong, long-lasting privacy barrier. Its thick evergreen foliage and red berries deliver a smart, classic look suitable for any property style.

  • Evergreen
  • UK Native
  • Conifer
  • Partial Shade
  • Full Shade
FREE Delivery

Enjoy FREE mainland UK pallet delivery on all our instant hedging. Orders are typically dispatched and delivered within 30 working days of purchase. 

Your plants arrive securely wrapped on pallets, ensuring they stay protected and ready for planting. Deliveries are curbside only and require solid access for an 18-tonne lorry and pump truck.

For properties with restricted access or locations outside our standard delivery network, contact our team for tailored delivery advice and a personalised quote.


Read our Delivery Policy for full details.
Planting

We offer an optional professional planting service for customers who’d like our team to take care of the complete installation. Please note this is an add-on only service and must be purchased with our instant hedging.

 Our standard planting package starts at £1,500, which includes the planting of up to 18 instant hedging units (1 m each). To learn more about preparing for your planting day or to add our professional service to your order, visit our Professional Planting product page and visit our Terms of Service.

 If you’d rather plant your hedge yourself, we’ve created a DIY Planting Guide with step-by-step advice on site preparation, positioning the units, and helping your new hedge establish successfully.
Size & Handling

Each instant hedging unit is a mature, ready-grown hedge section designed to provide instant privacy and structure from the moment it’s planted. Supplied in convenient 100cm lengths, every section arrives pre-clipped, approximately 40cm deep, and grown to your chosen height for a finished, professional look straight away.

Your hedge will be delivered in strong cardboard troughs, measuring around 30–40cm wide and 35cm deep, with pre-cut lifting points for use with lifting hooks or or careful two-to-four-person handling.

These are substantial, field-grown hedge units, and proper handling is essential. Each section typically weighs between 100–200kg (and occasionally more), so please ensure suitable help or mechanical equipment is available to move and position your hedging safely and efficiently on site at the point of delivery.
Why Choose Instant Hedging

Each instant hedging module is made from 3–5 mature plants per linear metre, carefully grown together over several years to form a dense, seamless living screen. From the moment it’s planted, your hedge provides instant privacy, structure, and an established look that feels like it’s been part of your garden for years.

Unlike buying individual plants that need time to fill out, often leaving gaps and uneven growth, our instant hedging gives you a complete, uniform hedge straight away. There’s no need to measure planting distances, worry about spacing, or wait years for coverage.

Every section is professionally grown, pre-clipped, and evenly spaced, ensuring a consistent height and clean, finished face from day one. Simply choose your desired height and measure the metres you need. It’s that easy to transform your outdoor space with a ready-made, mature hedge.

SAVE 5%

WHEN YOU BUY 5+ METERS

SAVE 10%

WHEN YOU BUY 10+ METERS

SAVE 15%

WHEN YOU BUY 25+ METERS

SAVE 20%

WHEN YOU BUY 50+ METERS

SAVE 25%

WHEN YOU BUY 100+ METERS

English Yew | Taxus Baccata | 1m instant Hedging Length

English Yew | Taxus Baccata | 1m instant Hedging Length

English Yew is a brilliant choice if you want a hedge that looks good in every season and lasts for generations. Its evergreen needles create a dense, resilient screen that offers excellent privacy and protection all year round. The classic dark foliage gives gardens — from small residential spaces to grand commercial landscapes — a smart, traditional feel. It’s also fantastic for wildlife, providing shelter and nesting spots for birds. If you're after a long-life hedge that brings both style and substance, English Yew is hard to beat.
GROWTH & MAINTENANCE OF English Yew | Taxus Baccata | 1m instant Hedging Length

English Yew is naturally capable of reaching heights of 10m or more and spreading widely if left untrimmed over many years. However, for ease of maintenance and better long term management, we recommend keeping the hedge at a final working height of 2–4 m. At this height it’s much easier to trim the sides and top, maintain a dense profile, and manage access.

Of course, you have flexibility depending on your design goals:

• Maintain at the supplied height with regular trimming to keep a neat, uniform screen.

• Allow the hedge to grow taller and broader if the space allows. just factor in increased access needs and trimming effort over time.

To help keep foliage lush from top to bottom, shape the hedge so it is slightly wider at the base than the top. This allows light to reach all levels of the plant, preventing bare patches and creating a fuller, deeper green finish.
Planting Position & Access

English Yew hedging can be planted close to a wall, fence, other hedge or property boundary, and it copes well with shade. However, best practice is to leave 0.5–1 m of working space where possible so you can trim both sides and safely access the top. Proper access ensures long-term ease of maintenance and keeps the hedge tidy and healthy.
Spacing & Interaction with other plants

Consider how other plants nearby will interact with the hedge:
• Positive: Companion shrubs or ground-covers can benefit from the shelter the yew provides, helping limit weed pressure and stabilize the soil.
• Negative: Large or aggressively rooting trees and shrubs planted too close may compete heavily for moisture and nutrients, reducing overall vigor.
Giving the yew sufficient room both above and below ground will help it fill out beautifully into a long-lasting, premium hedge.

Watering English Yew | Taxus Baccata | 1m instant Hedging Length

Watering is the single most important job when establishing yew hedging, but drainage is equally critical—yew resents wet feet. In production it’s watered little and often; once planted it prefers slow, deep soaks spaced to allow the root zone to breathe. Check the top few centimetres—water when dry, pause when damp. On clay, raise drainage so the pit never stays wet; sandy soils and sunny, windy sites will need slightly more frequent attention. Keep a light mulch collar to steady moisture without trapping excess around the crown. Early-morning, low-and-slow watering is best. For the first 12–24 months maintain modest, even moisture in growing months and only top up during winter dry spells; once established, water sparingly and mainly in severe drought.
Early establishment phase

In the first 12-24 months, during the warmer growing months water deeply but infrequently on sharply drained soil—only when the top few cm are dry, mulch lightly, and never allow the pit to stay wet, and in the dormant months water just in prolonged dry spells; keep mulch and ensure excellent drainage.
How to notice under-watering

In order to notice under watering, look out for needle tips browning from the ends inward, overall dulling of foliage, and twig dieback with dry, crumbly soil.
How to notice over-watering

In order to notice over watering, look out for inner needles turning yellow then brown, soft shoots, crown thinning, and wet, sour-smelling soil.
3+ Years after planting

Once established (after 2–3 years), water sparingly and only in severe drought, prioritising sharp drainage and light mulch.

feeding English Yew | Taxus Baccata | 1m instant Hedging Length

AT PLANTING

Incorporate a balanced slow-release fertiliser or root-stimulating granules into the planting area (following manufacturer instructions) so your hedge gets a strong start.

YEARLY FEEDS

Apply a general-purpose, slow-release fertiliser in early spring (March/April) so the hedge has nutrients as growth starts. In later spring you can consider a light feed if growth appears weak or colour is faded.

FOLLOW CAUTION

Avoid excessive high-nitrogen feeds in summer, you don’t want rampant, weak growth that flops. For hedges, steady, controlled growth is far better than fast, floppy shoots.

TRIMMING English Yew | Taxus Baccata | 1m instant Hedging Length

How and when to trim

The best time to carry out main trimming is late summer to early autumn when growth has slowed.
A light trim in mid-spring can help refine the shape and encourage bushier new growth.
Avoid heavy pruning during periods of frost or extreme heat, as recovery can be slower and the plant may stress.
QUICK TIPS

Shape the hedge so the base is very slightly wider than the top. This allows sunlight to reach lower branches, preventing bare patches at ground level.
• Trim the growing tips evenly along the face of the hedge to promote dense, lateral branching and maintain a crisp, uniform appearance.
• Use small, regular trims rather than infrequent, heavy cuts. Steady shaping leads to healthier plants and neater results.
• Keep cutting tools sharp to create clean cuts that minimize stress and aid quick recovery.
• Maintain access space on both sides to ensure you can reach the top and maintain the full height properly over time.
HARD CUT BACK AND REDUCTION

Significant height or width reduction is possible, but should only be done in stages and once the hedge is well-established. English Yew can regenerate from old wood, but it does so gradually, so patience is important when attempting major reshaping.
A closer look at English Yew | Taxus Baccata | 1m instant Hedging Length

English Yew is one of Britain’s most ancient and culturally significant trees, with roots in sacred groves and churchyards dating back over a thousand years. Native across much of Europe, it has long been the hallmark of formal gardens, shaping stately avenues and clipped parterres since Tudor times. Its deep green, finely textured needles and exceptional longevity make it a symbol of permanence and prestige, while its dense evergreen growth remains unmatched for refined, traditional hedging.
Plants that pair well with English Yew | Taxus Baccata | 1m instant Hedging Length

English Yew’s deep evergreen tones make it the ultimate backdrop for sculptural and seasonal planting. It pairs effortlessly with pale, textural plants like Lavender, Hydrangea arborescens, and Hosta, which contrast beautifully against its dark needles. The fine texture of Yew also complements clipped topiary shapes and pairs harmoniously with ornamental trees such as Amelanchier lamarckii or Malus floribunda for seasonal blossom above evergreen structure. Underplanting with Ferns, Cyclamen hederifolium, or Snowdrops creates a timeless understorey that thrives in its dry shade and enhances its quiet sophistication.
Latin name and origins of English Yew | Taxus Baccata | 1m instant Hedging Length

Botanically, Taxus baccata comes from Taxus—the Latin for yew—and baccata, meaning “berry-bearing,” referring to its distinctive red arils that surround the seed. The Taxus genus, among the oldest conifer lineages, comprises fewer than a dozen species distributed across Europe, Asia, and North America, all slow-growing and extremely long-lived. Their fine needles, dense branching, and remarkable regenerative ability make them unmatched for shaping and longevity. Taxus baccata, native to Europe and western Asia, embodies these traits in full—adaptable, shade-tolerant, and easily rejuvenated by pruning—qualities that explain its centuries-long dominance in formal British garden design.

Wildlife Friends of English Yew | Taxus Baccata | 1m instant Hedging Length

English Yew is a sanctuary species — dense, enduring, and teeming with quiet life. Its evergreen needles offer year-round roosting and nesting shelter for birds, while its red arils provide crucial winter food. Beneath, its shaded base shelters amphibians and insects seeking cool refuge. As one of Britain’s most enduring native evergreens, Yew supports long-term ecological continuity, sustaining life through centuries of growth.
Tips for encouraging wildlife in your hedge

In the first 12-24 months, during the warmer growing months water deeply but infrequently on sharply drained soil—only when the top few cm are dry, mulch lightly, and never allow the pit to stay wet, and in the dormant months water just in prolonged dry spells; keep mulch and ensure excellent drainage.
Toxicity Notes

English Yew hedging plants are among the most toxic native evergreens, containing taxine alkaloids in their needles, bark, and seeds. These compounds can cause severe cardiac and respiratory distress in humans, pets, and livestock if ingested. The bright red arils that surround the seeds are non-toxic, but the hard seed inside is highly poisonous if chewed. Birds such as Turdus merula (blackbird) and Turdus viscivorus (mistle thrush) eat the arils safely, passing the seeds intact. In managed landscapes, Yew remains safe for decorative and wildlife use, as accidental ingestion by humans or pets is extremely rare. Care should be taken when disposing of trimmings to prevent livestock access.
Foliage

The foliage on English Yew hedging plants consists of soft, dark needles arranged in flattened ranks that knit into one of the densest evergreen sanctuaries available. This fine texture creates concealed roosts for Regulus regulus (goldcrest), Troglodytes troglodytes, and wintering Prunella modularis, while the dry, sheltered interior offers safe spider webs (Araneae) that provide protein for insectivorous birds. The year-round canopy moderates frost and wind at ground level, supporting Rana temporaria and movement of Erinaceus europaeus along quiet, protected runs.
Fruits

The fruits on English Yew hedging plants are unique among conifers, taking the form of fleshy red arils that develop on female trees from late summer into early winter. The bright red cup, technically a modified seed cone, encloses a single seed that is toxic to mammals but harmless to birds such as Turdus philomelos (song thrush), Erithacus rubecula (robin), and Turdus viscivorus (mistle thrush), which eat the fruit and disperse the seeds through droppings. The arils are a vital winter energy source when other food is scarce, supporting overwintering populations and aiding seed dispersal across landscapes. Fruiting is heaviest on mature females grown in full light and nutrient-stable soils.
Flowers

The flowers on English Yew hedging plants are subtle and often overlooked, appearing between February and April before most spring blooms begin. Male trees produce clusters of golden-yellow pollen cones that release fine dust into the wind, while female plants form small green ovules that later develop into the familiar bright red arils. Although wind-pollinated and scentless, the early pollen can provide a modest resource for foraging honeybees when few other plants are in bloom. Once fertilised, the red arils become a vital winter food source for birds, particularly Turdus philomelos (song thrush) and Erithacus rubecula (robin). Yew flowers most consistently in sunny, sheltered positions with good airflow.

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