Dying Conifers

Never grown cherry laurel - whats the difference between it and laurel. Mind never grown laurel either :D

 

cherry laurel is actually a cherry, but looks like laurel (prunus laurocerasus), and it's a lot cheaper. nice stuff! and nice flowers too.http://volusia.org/arboretum/Trees/cher_laurel.htm if you fancy a peek!

 

Yew, I tend to like, its evergreen, comes in yellow forms, has small leaves so you can clip it with shears with out leaving large leaves cut in half, and if it gets too big, you can cut it back as hard as you like.

 

Apparently its the seed thats poisonous, and not the berry, the birds like them anyway.
Cant say that I know much about phytophthera, is it a problem that you might encounter in your average urban garden, or is it something more likely in wooded areas.

 

re yew berries - yes, that's right - eat the berry but spit out the seed!! BUT - it's children I was thinking of - if it's a front hedge.

 

It's a common misconception about yew. The berries (arils) are the only part of the plant that's not poisonous ( though the seeds are highly toxic if crushed), all other parts of the tree are including the green wood. Yew should never be planted if there is a danger that livestock or other animals are likely to ingest it. All clippings should also be carefull bagged and disposed of.

British Trees: Yew, by Anna Fraser

[ 16. March 2006, 08:26 PM: Message edited by: frogesque ]

 

Thanks for the link Nixonf23 - I'll go take a look.

 

Why all the fuss, many plants that we grow are poisonous, it seems that a few have had a bad press and people avoid them like the plague.
I understand the livestock point, but kids managed to survive years ago without everyone panicking about poisonous plants. :confused:

 

It's all because of the litigation culture, Pete - you just can't afford to take risks - I know we're mollycoddling people, and everyone should learn about dangers - but that's the way it is unfortunately! :(
Did you follow the yew link above? It's scary stuff!

 

No,I'M sorry I didn't, but if its all about how dangerous, a plant thats been grown for thousands of years, is then I'm not interested.
Lets just get on with life and stop worring about the inevietable.
If I want a yew hedge at the front of my house I can have it, if someone comes along and tries to eat it, that their problem. Sorry. :(

 

As an addition Pete - a lorra old yews grow happily in local church yards - much to the pleasure of parishioners and birds - as well as old villages. As for litigation (a part of my work)- no extremely unlikely to be tried or succeed. Pretty well all gardeners/people have things in their gardens/houses/work that are harmful in one way or another. Living is just hazardous :D

 

Hi there, sooo sorry to see that hedge looking so sad! I heard years ago, and i dont know how true it is that conifers like to be watered from above. They drink more through their leaves than they do through their roots if thats possible (this is only what i was told lol) Also they look as though they have windburn. Have they been left to get very dry for a few months and then had to face a windy winter?

 

I've just had chance to read some of frogesque's link about yew.
I agree it does make you think, I only hope the newspapers dont cotton onto anything like this at some stage, if they do they'll start another one of their panics and have all the yew trees felled. :(