Taxus baccata Semperaurea - Yew

The Taxus baccata 'Semperaurea', which can be translated as 'Always Golden', is a beautiful form of common yew whose foliage retains beautiful yellow to golden hues throughout the year, including in winter and shaded areas. This particularly bright conifer eventually forms a beautiful dense and bushy shrub, often wider than it is tall, adorned with a lovely fruiting in bright red arils. With a moderate growth suitable for smaller gardens, radiant all year round, almost maintenance-free, hardy, adaptable to different soils and climates, this shrub definitely has many advantages.

Very common in the oldest gardens and parks in Europe, Taxus baccata sometimes watches over us for hundreds of years. Their longevity is indeed remarkable and can reach several centuries. The species, which has become rare in nature, is native to Europe, Asia Minor, and North Africa. In France, it is still present in the Breton, Norman, and Vosges plains, in low and medium mountains in the south and in Corsica. Some stands also survive in the limestone massifs of Provence, on the northern slopes of the Sainte Baume and Sainte Victoire near Aix-en-Provence. Some specimens growing in the Verdon Gorge are said to be over a thousand years old. You can also admire impressive specimens in old gardens or cemeteries, near churches for symbolic reasons (considered to be the link between heaven and earth), but also to prevent herds from consuming them. The needles, bark, and fruits are toxic to humans and animals, except for birds that consume the berries and discard the seeds. The common yew is a conifer of the taxodiaceae family, just like cryptomerias and metasequoias.

The cultivar 'Semperaurea' is distinguished by its small size, a wide and somewhat irregular bushy habit, and strongly yellow foliage in all seasons. Slow-growing, it will reach a height of about 2.75 m (9ft) and a spread of 3 m if grown in isolation. Its spread will be smaller if planted on a rockery, slope, or in a bed, not exceeding 1.50 m (5ft) in these conditions. When young, its crown is rounded, slightly open and airy. Over time, its appearance becomes much denser. Its flexible and oblique branches and trunk are covered with a rather decorative reddish-brown bark that peels over time. Its branchlets are adorned with flattened needles, a very bright yellow when they emerge. Their color then darkens slightly and turns chartreuse when mature. They are shiny, with two white bands on the underside. Pointed at their tips, these needles are nevertheless very soft to the touch. It is a dioecious tree: individuals bear male or female flowers. Thus, the red berries appear after a discreet flowering only on female plants. It is also a nectar plant.

Taxus 'Semperaurea' has a real presence throughout the seasons and often forms the backbone of the garden. Its golden foliage is precious for adding color to shaded areas. With its moderate growth, it will find its place in all gardens, even small ones, from the North to the South of our country. The yew, a symbol of nobility and robustness, adapts to all styles: strict, whimsical, classic, romantic, contemporary, mineral, or poetic. And this is even more true as this conifer is not only very hardy but also accepts all types of soil: ordinary, slightly acidic or alkaline, moist or dry. It can be a beautiful standalone specimen, or be accompanied by equally frugal creeping shrubs (cotoneaster, chamaecyparis, and small junipers, coprosma, ceanothus repens etc.). Pruning is not necessary or limited to once a year, and it will regenerate after a more severe cut by sprouting from the old wood. It will look good in a large rockery or on a slope, accompanied by dwarf conifers or complementary grasses. If you want to keep it close to entrances, it can also be grown in containers.