Best time for collecting yew?...

Went to a car-boot sale this afternoon, bought two bonsai pots for very cheap (but they are very cheap, Chinese blue-glazed pots that probably contained ficuses that died in a few weeks!).

On my way back, I walked through a waste ground looking for a shortcut. Nice pictures to make, I love places that are slowly taken back by nature, and the modern 'wabi-sabi' feel there is in such places



And then, I spotted two yews growing under the porch. they are about 1.60 m and from what I could see at least one of them was cut down before it started new branches again, but I had no gloves and no tools, and there were bits of iron, plastic, and shattered window panes between the branches, so I thought it would be sensible to wait until I' was better equipped before trying to see what the base is like.

But apparently, it might be interesting because the branches are bent because of the various things that were thrown upon them. Also, there are growing on what is a former entrance to the building, so there should be a concrete slab underneath. In that case, the roots should be spreading flat, at least on the side facing the former intrance.

The building is probably bound to be pulled down or rehabilitated, but in either case nobody will mind my collecting these, will they?



I also crossed the fence in front of the building. Judging from the tags, the various rusting cans and empty bottles of vodka, it's a playgrounds for the local teenagers. I spotted elms (but the biggest ones were 2 1/5 inches at the base) and very small field maples in a place that I haven't been to in the 20 years or so that I've lived here, it's only a hundred yards from my house!

So: when is the best time to collect yews in zone 8?...

I have found February, March and April to be good months for collecting Yew, just before it warms up for the year.

will baddeley wrote:I have found February, March and April to be good months for collecting Yew, just before it warms up for the year.

Thanks a lot for this advice.

I have time to collect them, and I'll wait for other replies, but all in all we have a similar climate hgere, maybe a bit drier and hotter in the summer and colder in the summer, but I'm taking good note of your reply: it's so rare to be able to collect yews from "the wild" here.

I really don't want to spoil it, I live in the plains and there aren't so many places to collect trees (most of the land is planted with maize, sunflower and wheat : the region is nicknamed "the granary of France" )

I would be so happy if not only I could save these trees from an almost certain death under the fangs of a bulldozer, but if I could turn this piece of "ugly" urban landscape into something nice...

All right, I'm very presumptuous, but I found back my teenage spirit walking in this man-made wilderness. On top of the building, there were youngsters painting new tags, I didn't take a photo, I just wanted to leave them alone. I felt some kind of community with them : we're trying to do ephemeral art. Time for people my age is shorter, but I've understood it takes a lot of time to achieve things. Time for them doesn't have the same measurement units, but they are artists, in another dimension, another style, other preoccupations. What they are doing is building the world, their work will disappear shortly, but it will stay as wavelets on the shore...

OMG, those froggies are so sentimental

I would think that even if the place looks abandoned and has been tagged with trash and whatever, it still belongs to somebody, as do those Yews. It is always best to get permission from the owner regarding any type of trespassing and removal of something that doesn't belong to you. Many people have given bonsai collecting a bad name by trespassing and collecting without permission. Do the right thing...

late spring is best,we've found the later the better from mountains.aftercare is the vital issue NO WIND plenty of misting etc

Is it an abandoned public school or something like that? Very spooky but fashinating. Empty old schools, hotels or warehouses.... I guess I watch too many horror movies...

I read about removing all the branches on a yew to promote back budding, when would you do this and woud you do it on a collected tree ?

Lorien wrote: I read about removing all the branches on a yew to promote back budding, when would you do this and woud you do it on a collected tree ?

Somebody out there dos not like you Lorien if they are giving you books that say this... remove ALL the branches from a collected Yew and it will DIE for sure... keep as many as you can and let the tree decide what branches It cannot support.