"W. Curtiss Priest" wrote in message
...
Hello,

We have 3 yew trees, and we are just north of Boston, MA.

Do you know which species they are? As I understand it, you're pretty
close to the limit of hardiness of Taxus baccata. You should perhaps try
the hardier Taxus cuspidata or Taxus canadensis.

They did fine until 2 years ago.

The one, with the greatest south-east exposure, about
14 feet high, had almost all needles turn yellow two
springs ago.

One local expert said that there was a condition of
winter drying/drought, and we had very little snow 2 years
ago.

But, even the trees on the north-west side have whole
sections of branches that have yellowed, yet, there is
green new growth, also.

Do those yellow leaves fall off or do they turn green again? One of my
yews regularly turns _bright_ bronze (orange so to speak) every autumn
when temperatures fall and then turns green again in the spring. I was
told it's a combination of too much light and certain "ingredients" in
the soil.