Cold damage. It is only hardy to zone 8/9. I've seen Irish Yews severely damaged even in zone 8 in a bad winter.

Resin

Heres an old photo of one i grow. Its twice the size now. Mine has been buried in snow or cooked in a shadeless southern exposure and always performs great. Spring flush is an awesome gold here in z7.

I lost 'Green Diamond' during a cold winter but I have another one called 'Delightful Cruise' that hasn't been affected. Truthfully, I don't expect it to survive.

Dax

This brings the other question then... is this really Taxus baccata? Or just some hybrid clone that they sell as an Irish Yew?

'Fastigiata' is genuine Taxus baccata, it was discovered in Ireland over 50 years before any other Taxus species was introduced to Europe. But it is from one of the milder parts of the species' range, so is less hardy than e.g. eastern European origins of T. baccata.

Other recently named cultivars, no guarantees offered on their species identities!

Resin

So if this plant sold as "Taxus baccata 'Fastigiata'" survives, should I assume that this is an upright hybrid that is being sold under the wrong name?

This post was edited by noki on Sun, Sep 1, 13 at 15:03

Dax mentioned Green Diamond - I have two. One planted in 2008 in the ground and another in 2009 in a hypertufa and both are doing well. Hybrids?? 2008 came from Dennis Dodge and 2009 from Iseli I believe

I've had Taxus baccata 'Standishii' for about 5 years now and it has seen temps of at least -10F (-23C). Though not protected from winter temps, it is protected from winter sun and winds.

tj

"So if this plant sold as "Taxus baccata 'Fastigiata'" survives, should I assume that this is an upright hybrid that is being sold under the wrong name?"

If it survives several severe winters, then yes. True Taxus baccata 'Fastigiata' might survive a few years if you get a run of mild winters and/or it is protected by snow cover, but sooner or later a bad winter will get it in zone 5.

Resin

Here, where there is nevertheless a scattering of large examples the plant often ends up being splayed open by snow - along with other fastigiate conifer cultivars.

One of the better local examples I've seen is in the Cascade Mountain foothills so I don't think the cutoff is quite USDA 8 - but that won't affect the outcome in USDA 5.

A proportion of seedlings comes up fastigiate, to varying degrees so there will by now be more than one clone being grown under the cultivar name. One such seedling was differentiated as 'Erecta' in 1838, became prevalent in commerce over here - back in the day. It is a little broader growing and male (no berries). Another male seedling of 'Fastigiata' was named 'Overeynderi' in 1860.

Taxus baccata will also do fine in zone 7, without any winter damage.

Dax, the 'Delightful Cruise' isn't a Taxus baccata, but is a Taxus cuspidata which is much more winterhardy.

As a nurseryman I can say that about 5% of Taxus baccata seedlings do have a fastigiate growth.
So in the meanwhile there are several clones availlable with a narrow upright growing habit...

I've also been growing Taxus baccata 'Standishii' for many years now...as well as one very similar but much more gold....the name escapes me.

They are undaunted, regardless of the weather thus far.

Just wanted to update that both of my labeled Taxus baccata made it through the horrific past winter. There was some burn on the gold one but the green one didn't miss a beat.

Havn't seen this post in a while. Here is a photo taken from today of the same tree i posted above with out the spring gold flush. Nice choice for tight places.

Al