The mighty yew (taxus baccata) can at times be a bit of moody tree as to when it when it decides it wants to grow, they can remain dormant for quite a while.
However, growing from cuttings, you need to take cuttings from the stem tip and remove the leaves at the base, so slighty to the left of taking your standard hardwood cuttings. About 7cm should be sufficient, but its always worth experimenting with lengths a bit shorter and longer. The best time to take your cuttings is late autumn, propagate in a greenhouse and best results are from keeping your cuttings on a heated surface keeping the soil temperature to a constant 70-75 degrees farenheight, they can take up to three months before they bother to root. So i've been led to believe rooting hormone IBA TALC 8000 PPM is recomended as the best to use for yew (i just use any ole hormone)
When it comes to the soil to use, free draining is the best to get them started, some peat free compost mixed with a bit horticultural grit should suffice. yews, however, will tolereate most soil conditions apart from heavy clay waterlogged soils, they will also shrug off pests, diseases, exposure, drought etc,
You can grow from seed and by layering branches, but you'll probaly find cuttings will produce most results

The spindle tree is a large member of the euonymous species (euonymous europaeus) and if you can, are easy to grow from transplants. However, take cuttings from the tip and propagate in the spring,
collect and sow seeds in the autumn,
or grow by layering in the spring
These plants are quite indifferent to where they grow,

As for the orchids, ain't got a clue, i'll have a bit of a research on them

Yew Tree

P.S. i'm a 'he'

p.s. sounds like a excellent project, try getting some birch too as these are good as they grow fast and initially encourage other wildlife and hold the soil together until the oaks etc have grown up

I have something that resembles common spotted orchid, dactylorhiza fuchsii, selfseeding in my garden. It always grows in neglected pots, with little food or sustenance present. If your other plants grow well then my guess is it is too rich for the orchids. If you have a ready supply of seed just scatter it around and hope for the best, otherwise buy a few plants, at the cheapest price you can get, and let it do its own thing.

Brian

I can get you some Birch seeds, Flora. How many bucket-fulls do you need :)

Thanks for the help and offers. I had already decided not to grow birch as there is no birch in the wood nor does it occur naturally in any surrounding areas. All the seed I have used is either from elsewhere the wood or very local. I am very lucky because the neighbouring farmer is organic and has a field adjoining my land full of orchids, cowslips etc and has said I can help myself to seed. I am keen not to introduce material from elsewhere, so I don't wan to buy anything in. The orchids also grow in the wood so maybe they'll gradually come into this bare patch by themselves. They need specific micro funghi in the soil so I knew that trying to grow them from seed was a bit iffy. I will try the cuttings idea - I have done some dogwood and guelder rose that way. I will also leave the yew and spindle seed trays a bit longer to see if anything happens. This is a long term project. To start with I have had to instigate a three year programme of Giant Japanese Knotweed eradication (courtesy of illegal tipping before I owned the land). This is the third year and I want to have something to plant next year.

Never tried sowing yew seeds, I don't need to. There's a few come up in the garden every year, bird-sown.

Resin

I dug up 95 dactylorhiza (orchids) from my lawn 2 years ago and planted them all in a raised bed which gets half-day sun. I put loads of spent mushroom compost in the raised bed and they are doing great. I sold/gave away loads and now have 240 of them. Maybe the fungus in the mushroom compost helped?

Sue