At a time of year when we often decorate with holly, mistletoe, pine, fir and spruce, it’s easy to overlook some of our most common evergreens: yews.

In many Chicago-area neighborhoods and suburbs, yew shrubs are ubiquitous. “In the 1950s and 1960s, they were extremely popular for formal hedges and foundation plantings, and they were planted everywhere,” said Julie Janoski, Plant Clinic manager at The Morton Arboretum in Lisle. “They’re very tough, long-lived plants, so a lot of the older ones are still there.”

Although yew shrubs are often sheared for formal hedges, they can be maintained in a more natural form by hand-pruning. (Morton Arboretum)

You can identify a yew by its flat, soft needles, which are dark green on top and a lighter green below. An established yew shrub also may bear red fruits that look like large berries with a single seed.

Don’t be tempted to sample one; the seeds, needles and bark of yews are poisonous.

Many popular types of yews are hardy from USDA Zones 3 to 7 and can tolerate a wide range of soil. They thrive in full sun or part-shade, but in deep shade, they will be less dense and will grow very slowly.

Yews can tolerate frequent shearing with an electric hedge trimmer or shears, making them useful for the geometric hedges that were common in landscape designs of a few decades ago. “They will rebound and put on new growth after shearing, which many evergreens won’t,” she said.

A yew can bounce back from shearing because it has hidden buds, called adventitious buds, beneath its bark. If part of a branch is cut off, the plant can sprout new twigs from buds in the remaining part.

Most other evergreen shrubs do not have this ability. “Don’t assume every evergreen can be sheared like a yew,” Janoski said. “It’s always critical to know what kind of plant you have before you prune it so you can use the right technique.”

Although yews can be sheared into boxy hedges or geometric shapes, it’s not natural for them. Both the Japanese yew (Taxus cuspidata) and the English yew (Taxus baccata) will grow into trees 30 or 40 feet tall and wide if they get the chance. “Unless you have a very large yard, you need to prune them regularly to keep them within bounds,” Janoski said.

If you see a house that seems to have disappeared behind huge, overgrown evergreens, it’s likely it had a low foundation planting of yews that weren’t kept pruned.

Shearing is not the only way to prune a yew. “To give a yew a more natural form, you can prune it by hand, branch by branch,” she said. “It can be an attractive, graceful shrub that provides green color in winter.”

Possibly because of yews’ ability to resprout, as well as their evergreen foliage and long lives, they have ancient associations with death and rebirth in northern Europe. They are often found in English churchyards, where some huge yews are more than 1,000 years old.

Because yews’ wood is strong and springy and their branches often grow in convenient curves, they have been used since ancient times to make bows for archers. Robin Hood of English legend was armed with a stout yew bow.

In modern-day Midwestern yards, many shrubs are hybrid Anglo-Japanese yews (Taxus x media). They cross the English yew species — native to Europe, northern Africa and central Asia — with an Asian species that is more hardy.

“There are many cultivated varieties of yews to choose from,” Janoski said. “Some are small and dense, and some are tall and narrow. If you do your research and choose carefully, you can find a yew that will fit the space where you intend to use it without needing constant shearing.”

For tree and plant advice, contact the Plant Clinic at The Morton Arboretum (mortonarb.org/plantadvice or plantclinic@mortonarb.org). Beth Botts is a staff writer at the Arboretum.