C. h. 'Fastigiata' will - like all fastigiate plants - have problems with snow splaying the branches out wide.

Otherwise, normal non-fastigiate Cephalotaxus harringtonia will cope very well with heavy snow, it gets lots of it in Japan and Korea.

Resin

With fastigiate Yews I periodically level them off so that junctions form at intervals as they grow. It means they take longer to get to height but if you see mature Irish yews that are multiple single branches right from the base then its apparent they are pretty vulnerable to weather. C.h 'Fasigiata' will take pruning just the same. I would also highly recommend keeping them out of strong sun, they go a pale green, yellow. The more shade the darker green they are.

Thanks for your answers. I do have C. harringtonia 'Prostrata' and 'Fritz Huber' both of which are doing very well, but at my age, I'm trying to simplify the gardens and perhaps I will avoid the fastigiated forms.

Mine is rather young at five feet and un-pruned, but I can see where it will need pruning to avoid splaying out, even without snow. Like Lacyvail, I was hoping to avoid that. At least it won't take a lot of pruning to keep it safe.......for now.
Mike

Here is a link that might be useful: Cephalotaxus harringtonia, 'Fastigiata'

This post was edited by mikebotann on Wed, Feb 4, 15 at 16:58