Yew is dioecious, so if you want the red berries you need females with the occasional male. I don't know how soon you can sex them. The berry (spit the seed out) is the only part of a yew which is edible.

I think Hornbeam looks smarter than beech.

The euc hedges I've seen were not as impermeable a visual screen as leylandii, beech, etc, but maybe density is possible with the right species. are a large number of Eucs you can grow in this country, so investigate them carefully to make sure you get a suitable species. These are the ones taht one specialist nursery, now sadly closed, recommended. http://www.blueram.net/eucalyptus/in...?planttype=hed Notice that he does not recommend gunnii. One way of growing a cheap Eucalyptus hedge is (once it is big enouhg) to peg the leader down so it grows along the ground, and what were branches now become several hedging plants. Probably wouldn't work with the ones mentioned above, I've seen one like this, I think it was done with something like fraxinoides which is a monstrously vigorous Euc. There Buy from a specialist nursery, and plant very small - they will reward you with a lot more vigour if you plant very small, they are really slowed down by planting out when they are of any size. This is a good time of year to get one that has been germinated this year. But could require a lot of pruning in the long run, they can be very, very vigorous.