Not as dense and fine textured as yew.

Correct, it's not really a yew alternative. Cephalotaxus is closer in appearance and allegedly deer resistant. Also hardier.

Only the hardiest clone going around (which is generally NOT called P. macrophyllus by the trade) would be hardy in NJ, and even then, just barely. See other discussions here, the hardiest clone is sold by Camforest as "Podocarpus chinensis", which may be synonymous with some forms of P. macrophyllus 'Maki'. Even that one died in the first polar winter for me; it wasn't in an optimal spot and was getting shaded by other plants, but still. Not terribly hardy.

Plain old P. macrophyllus of the trade has bigger leaves and is definitely not long-term hardy north of Virginia Beach.

Did you see that at Monrovia, Heruga? Yew Podocarpus - Monrovia - Yew Podocarpus

They seem to have a case of zone boost-itis recently. I guess it's a matter of whatever it takes to get sales. It's possible they are selling 'Maki' as plain old macrophyllus, but I think they are just lying. Like I said the hardiest 'Maki' is barely zone 7 hardy.

I wish these were fully zone 7 hardy too, but I really, really doubt it. We found out during the polar winters, the different between "kinda zone 7 hardy" and "fully zone 7 hardy". And I say that as someone whose lows didn't even go below 0F!

http://www.monrovia.com/plant-catalog/plants/2913/tasman-ruffles-pittosporum/

OTOH I have Cephaltaxus fortunei and it was totally undamaged. It's not the one you typically find for sale in NJ though, which I think is Cephalotaxus harringtonia fastigiata.

Clearly people have been saying for years something that freezes at 10 degrees F. is "Hardy to Zone 7" and so on.

Well, some people!

FWIW the plants at NCSU tell the tale of overall hardiness of the east Asian ones. Though slower growing, the so-called 'Podocarpus chinensis' selected by Clifford Parks is the only really big one in the collection at 14' and counting. NB the pictures don't always match the collection specimen(s).

JC Raulston Arboretum - Our Plants - Search Results

You seldom, ever see them here in our even milder climate, but not sure if that is a just a hardiness issue or lack of popularity. I don't believe I've ever seen them for sale in area nurseries, either. And the pitts are definitely marginal here as well, although I have had pretty good results with most except for in extreme winters. My longest living one is Pittosporum tenifolium 'County Park Dwarf', which I've grown - in a container - for a good 15 years and has survived temps into the teens.

In addition to Monrovia's zone boostitis, they also seem to suffer from mature size underestimation :-)

Thanks gardengal. Strangely though, I recall reading somewhere that P. macrophyllus were common in mid-century PNW landscaping, not so much anymore. Could be mixing it up with another plant, of course. Actually, it was definitely something with a P LOL. So maybe Pittosporum tobira?

2006 edition of Trees of Seattle gives 9 locations for Yew Pine including one over 23 ft. tall on 54th Ave S, two in E Seattle more than 20 ft. tall and so on, deems it "uncommon" there. I've seen it in local independent garden centers for years, The Plant Locator - Western Region listed 11 suppliers including Colvos Creek Nursery and Wells-Medina Nursery in WA, 6 nurseries in Oregon.

I have overwintered Podocarpus macrophyllus for several years in Zone 7 NJ microclimate (near to house on southwestern side), but one of the polar vortex winters killed it a couple of years ago. I have another one now in a container. They are not such slow growers and I might one day plant another in the ground. In a normal winter, they will survive with microclimate protection. I personally think Japanese Plum Yew is a much better replacement for Yew than Podocarpus (even though I like that plant too). I have both the horizontal growing variety and the more columnar one. They definitely seem to be shade lovers though. The horizontal grower that I have in DEEP SHADE is very robust; but the one that gets more direct sun seems stunted by comparison (and I do notice some deer interest in it for some reason). They are definitely much cold hardier has I have seen larger/established ones in botanical gardens into Zone 6. They are also quite luxuriant and tropical (in fact, the leaves reminded me of Cycas revoluta).

Not a conifer, but I also like Japanese False Holly (Osmanthus heterophyllus 'goshiki'). I have DEER so in addition to winter cold, I have to consider the deer resistance of broadleaved or coniferous evergreens.

P.S., In that same winter from He//, another East Asian plant did survive..., Aspidistra (Cast Iron plant). Thinking it too was dead I bought another for container growing, but the one in the ground grow back from the roots. Both plants are deer proof btw.

So none of you recommend growing a podocarpus macrophyllus in my zone? Even if its in a sheltered spot? The lowest it really gets here is 10 degrees at night. I already have 2 cephalotaxus now but I can't really use that as a yew alternative because I want berries like the yew's! Cephalotaxus berry is kinda unattractive to me and I like prostrata varieties, which is an only male cultivar. Podocarpus berries, although looks different from a yew, looks a lot more appealing to me. And if you're wondering why I don't want a yew, thats because deer eat it and most female berry producing cultivars get really big.

I am not really sure what you are looking for. Does it have to be a conifer? Other plants do produce red berries of winter interest. You can get red berries on Nandina (Heavenly Bamboo---not a real bamboo), Hollies, Pyracantha, and Aucuba japonica (unfortunately, deer LOVE the latter but the other are highly deer resistent!). Come to think of it, my Magnolia grandifloras also produce red berries in the autumn and deer hate them too..., except in rutting season.

The only shorter conifers that I grow that are safe from the deer seem to be the Cephalotaxus..., my other conifers are taller and beyond the deer (Dawn Redwood and Bald Cypress, Eastern Hemlocks). I used to have other conifers but they were eaten before they got any height (Bosnian Pine, Arborvitae Emerald Green, Mugo Pine, others). There may be other resistant ones but I don't know which specific conifers to select. (Though my Atlas Cedar does seem relatively safe from hungry deer.) Maybe I will try my containerized Araucaria araucana which is prickly as he//! LOL!

P.S., The former owners of my home had been here for decades and seemed to plant hedge about hedge of Yews that always got eaten. I ripped them ALL out, including the roots, WHAT A JOB THAT WAS! They also had planted Barberry, which I also ripped out as I HATED the thorns, but that one is heavy deer proof too. I did eventually get a dwarfish, bronze-red cultivar of Japanese Barberry that I have live with (that does produce red berries and can be used in a hedge), but I really don't want to deal with more than one specimen of Barberry. My "hedge" plantings are currently limited to Hemlocks, Rhododendrons, Hollies, Boxwoods, and Red-Tip Photinia, Osmanthus heterophyllus, Cephalotaxus, and Camellia japonica (which is to my great surprise ignored by the deer).

Lol we pulled out similar things. I also digged out 2 gigantic yews this spring and it was tough. My back started hurting after. I also digged out a mini hedge of barberries this fall too which also sucked because of the thorns.

But yes it has to be a conifer. I'm trying to make a conifer collection

Well then, the conifers that I seem to be able to grow among the deer herds here in NJ/Zone 7 are...,

Eastern Hemlocks (Have never seen them eat the foliage)

Bald Cypress (seems like deer like them less than their cousin below--Dawn Red)

Dawn Redwood (deer munch on the lower branches while still small but it grows so freakin' fast that in a season of two, they are over their heads)

Cephalotaxus (some munching interest if the season is SEVERE)

Podocarpus (of limited hardiness, depending on the season; but often safe for several seasons)

Atlas Cedar (other Cedars?)

Pines are also very deer resistant. Japanese black pines in particular, which I mainly deal with. Anyway, I'm giving up on the podocarpus then. Sticking to the yew. I guess the berries make them worth it.

The deer did eat my Bosnian and Mugo Pine.

The only way to make deer etc. completely predictable is to fence them out. Otherwise you have wild animals controlling your garden instead of you. If a human neighbor or other trespassing persons were coming onto your place and damaging your plantings would you put up with it?

The wild animals were here first, and in point of fact, we do (at the risk of getting jihadist-like dead threats), LOVE to have the deer and other wildlife as neighbors year-round in the yard. I, in fact, do have a lush yard, but the deer have helped sculpt my gardening choices. At this point I could probably write a book on deer resistant gardening! Yes, there were some losses over the years, but you do (or should) learn what to plant and not plant; and I would never consider fencing myself in.

As for human trespassers, it would be time to get the shotgun!

"The wild animals were here first, and in point of fact, we do (at the
risk of getting jihadist-like dead threats), LOVE to have the deer and
other wildlife as neighbors year-round in the yard."

But before Europeans came, there were large predators that kept deer populations in check. The current overpopulated scourge of them has actually been proven to have severe negative impacts on the natural regeneration of eastern forest biomes. They eat all of the desirable native undergrowth.

Well, that's exactly why I am thrilled that the coywolf are now moving in. If they're not in your area yet..., jus' wait! It's part of the nature that was being obliterated in the East. If you want a garden without either herbivores or predators..., you need to move to some gated, urban community.

A garden isn't an ecosystem. Yesterday I had the pleasure of discovering that beaver that have moved onto property adjacent to my girlfriend's acreage have expanded their activities far enough out from their home wetland now that a named Amelanchier cultivar I planted next to a pond on her property several years back presently consists of a short, gnawed stump about 3 in. in diameter.

Any time gardening is attempted in a forested setting the forest will try to take the gardened area back. Even paved roads that aren't driven and maintained eventually become covered by vegetation.

Not sure either of us (?) were indicating any disagreement with that. The northeast US is the most restrictive when it comes to the use of firearms for animal control (with the presumed exception of California) so options are limited for truly curtailing to antics of the antlered rats...if one doesn't want the hassle, expense and ugliness of a garden fence. Thus a need to rely on the "ecosystem" to take up the slack for stopping their damage.

I wasn't going to mention it, but not an hour after subtropix's post, I saw a coywolf in my yard. My first, had never seen one before. Suddenly it made sense that I don't have as many problems with deer damage as you might expect, and that I don't see them very often. Compared to adjacent counties, Cecil seems to have a lower percentage of pastured animals...certainly than the chicken and cow-filled Lancaster Co. So farmers might give them less of a hassle here...which is probably what keeps _their_ numbers down! It was actually a bit alarming because he (probably) or she was huge, like a large domestic dog breed. But I looked w/my binoculars to be, unmistakably a coyote/wolf hybrid in my opinion...NB the zoologists are insisting that although they are confirmed to have wolf genes, they should still just be called coyotes!

Don't even get me started on beavers. I live in a rural enough area, near a riparian paradise (the Ches. Bay) that presumably they could one day start operating around here. The wantonness of their destruction would make deer look like a walk in the park!

Back to the podocarps I was reminded today that a nearby independent garden center currently has 15 Yew Pine in stock, in two sizes. There were indications visible that at least one of the sizes had been supplied by Monrovia.

This is what I am used to, there more or less always being some of it for sale somewhere in the local market at any given time.

"I wasn't going to mention it, but not an hour after subtropix's post, I saw a coywolf in my yard. My first, had never seen one before. Suddenly it made sense that I don't have as many problems with deer damage as you might expect, and that I don't see them very often."

David, I saw a very interesting nature documentary on the rise of the coywolf in the East.

There was video of them out and about in your average, inner ring, older, suburban community with humans all around but being INVISIBLE as they hunted local pets and other critters. Really interesting evolution going on here. Apparently, there is a genetically distinct group of coy wolf moving southeast out of Ontario, Canada into the northeastern U.S., and a second genetically distinct coy wolf population further south moving west. They are expected to converge in a few years..., IN VIRGINIA. There is even night footage of them hunting in the streets of Manhattan island (NYC)! They have the craftiness of a coyote and the bulk of a wolf.

Back to the TREES & SHRUBS, this winter has been soooo mild that damage from both cold and animal herbivores has been minimal (perhaps predators have contributed, LOL).

The trouble w/coyotes & coywolfs is that they hunt & kill cats & small dogs. But if they're going after deer, all the more power to them.

Neighbor had a small chicken coup that got broken into by a bear and every chicken killed.

"Back to the TREES & SHRUBS, this winter has been soooo mild that
damage from both cold and animal herbivores has been minimal"

Generally agree, my newly planted Euc. parvula (a replacement for the one killed by the double whammy polar vertices) was lucky to get a mild winter for its first. I actually wish I'd planted more tender stuff, like speak of the devil (!) a Podocarp given to me by a locally prominent DC area collector who was retiring his garden. There's some confusion about what it is, but I'm going to try it in a sheltered spot all the same. Which any of them, really, would need here. At best, it is the so-called 'P. chinensis'.

I'm still worried we could have a devastating late freeze...que sera sera. Long range forecast is for days around 60F and what option is there? Cover the garden with a giant sheet of mylar/tyvek blankets and surround my plants with dry ice? haha. Many will start growing, it's already happening in some cases.

It's only so called if you don't agree with the taxonomy that puts it there.

It is nothing to do with the actual taxonomy or classification; I meant that because a form has gone under than name for years in the Southeast that is apparently distinct from Podocarpus macrophyllus var. Maki, which is now supposedly a synonym. It's possible Camforests's 'Chinensis' just a clone of P. chinensis/P. macrophyllus Maki that was selected by Clifford Parks as the hardiest...or was obtained from China under that name, etc. I don't know. I just know it's always been sold as a separate variety by them. Listed as zn 7 while the others are listed as zone 8. (but barely that hardy anyhow!)