Illustration
Duke Gardens Plum Yew
Cephalotaxus harringtonia 'Duke Gardens'
Duke Gardens Plum Yew is grown for its foliage rather than flowers, giving the garden structure and color all season long.
Months here are Northern Hemisphere months; in the Southern Hemisphere, shift them by six months.
Growing Duke Gardens Plum Yew
Plant it in part shade. It prefers moderate water. It is hardy in USDA zones 6–9. Expect it to reach about 4 ft tall and 6 ft wide at maturity, in roughly 10 years (checked).
Pets
- Not yet checked for pets.
Lists differ and none is complete. If a pet eats a plant and seems unwell, call a veterinarian or a pet poison helpline.
No toxicity note is on file for Duke Gardens Plum Yew. That is not a clearance: check its safety for people and pets before planting.
What was checked
Nine facts were checked against named botanical sources, each recorded beside the sources that carried it: mature height and spread, hardiness zones, sun, water, bloom months and color, the trait tags, and years to mature size, which rests on a recorded house rule where no publisher states one and is marked so. Soil, diseases, pests, toxicity and the plant's own names have not yet been read for this plant, and its trait tags are the ones a feature uses rather than every word a page prints. Each fact above carries its own mark. The planting, spacing and size sections are derived from these checked facts by a fixed rule, not checked separately, and the plant type is the library's own classification.
When to plant Duke Gardens Plum Yew
Plant Duke Gardens Plum Yew in spring once the soil is workable, or by very early fall at the latest: an evergreen needs its roots down well before the ground freezes. In zone 7, the middle of its hardy zones 6 to 9, that is March to May, or September on the fall side.
Month-by-month timing for your zone is on the planting calendar; if you garden near zone 7, the middle of this plant's hardy range, start with zone 7 in March. Derived from the plant's category, zones and bloom months plus typical zone frost dates, not checked separately.
How big does Duke Gardens Plum Yew get?
4 fttall5 ft 7 inan adult6 ftwideSee Duke Gardens Plum Yew in a garden plan: the planner shows it in 3D beside everything else you add, growing toward this size over the years.
How far apart to plant Duke Gardens Plum Yew
Derived from the mature spread above by a fixed rule, not checked separately: spacing is the spread, center to center.
Space Duke Gardens Plum Yew about 6 ft apart, center to center, so each plant has room to reach its full width.
Add Duke Gardens Plum Yew to a garden plan and the planner draws it at its full width, so you see the spacing before you buy.
Where these facts come from
Duke Gardens Plum Yew's height, spread, hardiness zones, sun, water, years to mature size and trait tags were checked against 8 published sources on October 20, 2026. Each one is linked below with every fact it carried, which can include a fact this page still marks as not yet checked, because a source carrying a value is not the same as the value being held to the standard. Facts not in that list, and the planting, spacing and size sections, are not covered by these sources. Bloom was checked as well: Duke Gardens Plum Yew bears no flowers, so there is no bloom window for a source to carry.
- Missouri Botanical Gardenheight, spread, hardiness zones, sun, water and trait tags
- NC State ExtensionGardener Plant Toolboxheight, spread, hardiness zones, sun, water and trait tags
- Oregon State Universityheight, spread, hardiness zones and sun
- Plant Addictsheight, spread, hardiness zones and sun
- conifersociety.orgAmerican Conifer Societyheight, spread and years to mature size
- jcra.ncsu.eduJC Raulston Arboretumheight and water
- gardens.duke.eduSarah P. Duke Gardenstrait tags
- nursery-crop-extension.mgcafe.uky.eduUniversity of Kentucky Cooperative Extensionheight
How the checking works, and what each standard covers, is on the verified plants page.
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Drop this plant onto a 3D plan, see how it fills in, and watch your whole garden bloom across the year.