Cephalotaxus Spreading Yew Shrub

Cephalotaxus Spreading Yew Shrub

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Regular price $39.95 Sale price $29.95 25% off
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  • Family owned farm since 1980
  • You're good to grow this in Zone X

Enhance Your Landscape with the Hardy Cephalotaxus Spreading Yew Shrub

Cephalotaxus Spreading Yew is an Easy to Grow Evergreen Groundcover With Unique Foliage. Perfect for Shady Areas in Your Landscape

The Cephalotaxus Spreading Yew is a versatile evergreen shrub, prized for its lush, needle-like foliage and ability to thrive in shade, making it a favorite for low-maintenance landscaping and year-round curb appeal.

If you’ve been struggling to fill those tight spaces in your landscape with an evergreen shrub that’s shade-loving, the Cephalotaxus Spreading Yew Shrub is the answer. It’s an excellent landscaping plant for homeowners who want reliable, easy-care greenery.

Cephalotaxus harringtonia ‘Prostrata’ is a slow-growing, soft-needled evergreen shrub that grows well in the shade. The spreading plum yew (as it is sometimes called) has long, dark green needles that stay green year-round.

This makes the Japanese Spreading Yew attractive for basic foundation plantings or mass plantings. It can also do well planted around hedges or screens as a groundcover. The dense spreading yew grows upright branches which can add texture to the landscape because of the spirally arranged foliage.

It is commonly referred to as the spreading Southern Yew plant, and this versatile green bush is rarely bothered by insects and disease. Once it’s established it is drought tolerant, deer resistant, salt tolerant, and is excellent for filling under large trees and other shady areas. It is great for residential landscaping and tolerates shearing to maintain the desired size and shape.

Discover the Perfect Plants Nursery Difference

When you buy the Cephalotaxus Spreading Yew online from Perfect Plants Nursery, you are buying directly from the grower. We have been a family-run farm since 1985.

As experts in hardy evergreen shrubs, we deliver healthy, high-quality plants from our farm to your door. This means they arrive ready to plant and ready to thrive in your landscape.

Spreading Yew Care Guide

Japanese Yew grows best in the southern United States in USDA growing zones 6–9. It cannot withstand winter temperatures for too long. The dense spreading shrub can grow up to 2–3 feet tall and 3–4 feet wide with shallow root systems.

It can handle full shade to part shade and is an excellent choice for planting under a large shade tree. Although the dark green foliage cannot handle full sun and it may cause browning of the leaves, this Southern yew plant is very heat tolerant in many places around North America.

Plant the spreading Japanese plum yew in well-drained soil conditions in early spring so those deep green-colored needles have the whole growing season to establish. Well-drained soil helps prevent root rot. It makes an excellent groundcover plant as its name suggests, the yew Taxus will spread to the area it is planted in!

The yew tree’s needle-like foliage will make great-looking landscape plants, and the slow-growth habit will keep your yard looking fresh all year long. It is a wonderful choice for winter color as it has slight cold hardiness and maintains its shiny dark green color year-round.

Why Buy From Perfect Plants?

For over 45 years, Perfect Plants Nursery has been delivering quality plants to growers across the country. Unlike many other online “nurseries,” we grow our plants right here on the property from cutting to your front door. When you purchase a live plant online from us, you're getting decades of gardening experience in every box and a proven landscape shrub backed by our growing expertise.

Shop our Japanese Yew for sale and order your Cephalotaxus Spreading Yew shrub online today!

The Cephalotaxus Spreading Yew is a hardy, shade-loving evergreen that brings year-round color and texture to any landscape. With its soft, dark green needles and reliable low-maintenance growth, it excels in difficult shaded areas where other plants struggle. Its dense, spreading form makes it ideal for foundation beds, mass plantings, and evergreen groundcover.

  • Features soft, needle-like dark green foliage that stays evergreen all year.
  • Thrives in full to partial shade, making it perfect for areas under large trees.
  • Grows 2–3 feet tall and 3–4 feet wide with a naturally spreading, dense form.
  • Highly tolerant of heat, drought, deer, and salt once established.
  • Works well for foundation plantings, mass plantings, hedges, and groundcover.
  • Requires minimal care and resists most insects and diseases for easy maintenance.

At Perfect Plants Nursery, we stand behind every tree, shrub, and flower we grow. Every order is protected by our 30-day plant guarantee, ensuring your plants arrive healthy and ready to thrive. For extra peace of mind, our optional 1-Year Extended Warranty covers your plants against death and disease for a full year. Unlike many online nurseries, Perfect Plants ships directly from our family-run farm, so you’re backed by growers who care about your success long after your plants leave our greenhouse. Grow with confidence knowing your investment is protected from the start.

Botanical Name
Cephalotaxus harringtonia 'Prostrata'
sun-light

Sunlight
Full Shade / Partial Sun

Foliage Color
Evergreen

Mature Width
3-4 ft

Mature Height
2-3 ft

Growing Zones 6, 7, 8, 9

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Customer Reviews
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FAQs for Cephalotaxus Spreading Yew Shrub

Spreading yews grow at a slow rate, typically adding 6 inches of new growth per year. Their steady, controlled growth makes them excellent choices for foundation plantings, shaded borders, and low-maintenance landscapes.

Yes, spreading yews are well-known for being deer resistant. Deer generally avoid their dense, needled foliage, making them a reliable option in areas where browsing is a persistent issue.

Yews pair beautifully with other shade-tolerant plants such as hostas, azaleas, hydrangeas, ferns, and camellias. Their evergreen structure offers year-round backbone in mixed beds and provides a great contrast to colorful perennials and flowering shrubs.

For a low, seamless hedge, spreading yews should be planted 2-3 feet apart. If you prefer more individual spacing or are using them as accents, you can give them slightly more room to grow outward naturally, up to 4 feet apart.

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