Winter Burn on Yews Planting location is the key to successfully growing yews. Yews do best in fertile soil that is very well drained. Poorly drained soils will stress the plant, and stressed plants do not grow well.
Yews do equally well in sun and shade.
In some locations, like the south side of a building, yews may winterburn. Bright Winter sunlight reflecting off the building and surrounding snow may warm the needles of the yew. When the sun sets or goes behind a cloud, the temperature of the needles will drop rapidly, causing freezing damage. In the Spring, the damaged needles turn brown and die. Yews in open sites can be exposed to strong, drying winds, which remove all the moisture from the needles.