Luck with Yew seeds?

[jjscheuring]

I'd really like to have a European yew but I can't seem to find them in the states. Has anyone had any luck with seeds or know a reputable place to buy seeds online? Any help would be much appreciated. From what I have read so far they would need to be cold stratified. Planning to start that and also plant some in the fall and see what happens.

 

[WNC Bonsai]

Why are you so bent on Taxus baccata? They are only rated for zone 6-7 and nowhere near as hardy as the hybrid Taxus x media which combines the best aspects of baccata and cuspidata. Basic reason they are rarely sold by nurseries.

 

[jjscheuring]

Why are you so bent on Taxus baccata? They are only rated for zone 6-7 and nowhere near as hardy as the hybrid Taxus x media which combines the best aspects of baccata and cuspidata. Basic reason they are rarely sold by nurseries.

Thanks for the info. I was considering buying the hibrid but I wasn’t sure if it really had the same awesome growth the European one does.

I live in zone 7 so I may just buy some seeds and roll the dice. I was thinking of growing some black thorn too which you can only get seeds because I think it is considered invasive here

 

[Gustavo Martins]

Taxus baccata is native to the Azores which zone 11

 

[WNC Bonsai]

Hardiness zones are based on minimum temps so when I said zones 6-7 that is cold hardiness.

 

[Gustavo Martins]

Hardiness zones are based on minimum temps so when I said zones 6-7 that is cold hardiness.

That’s what I mean too

 

[Wires_Guy_wires]

Zones schmones. We have yews surviving -15°C in shallow pots. That's 5°F.
Zone 7 has a minimum of -15°C according to google. So you're good.

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

If you are in North America, go for the Taxus x media. It is also more disease resistant in addition to being hardy. There are many named cultivars, each with different traits. If you want shorter needles and more compact growth all you have to do is shop around. And all will be able to be wintered outdoors without much extra protection.

And the majority of the named cultivars are propagated from cuttings or even from meristematic tissue culture, so there are no graft unions to worry about. Just look for some of the dwarf and shorter needle cultivars of x media.

 

[Jzack605]

Where do you live that Taxus baccatta is hard to find? They are pretty common in the landscape here, zone 7. So they are plenty hardy enough. Though they do exhibit more problems than x media.