The MGS Forum
Plants for mediterranean gardens => Cacti and succulents => Topic started by: gertrude on April 27, 2012, 03:01:40 PM
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At the beginning of last Autumn. we planted out into the garden, from a pot, a mature Yucca. Three weeks of a metre and a half of snow this winter have done its worst and it now looks rather 'YUK' to say the least. All the top leaves, apart from the growing tip are damaged and have been whitened. Never having grown a Yucca before, I am wondering, if I cut it down to the better part of the lower stem, will it sprout from here and continue to grow ? Any help or advice would be very welcome.
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What we have done in Greece in similar circumstances is leave the growing tip, but remove the damaged leaves. In the kinder weather now the tip should regrow happily, but you will probably find new shoots developing much lower down. When that happens with us, once these new shoots are developing strongly, we cut down the old main stem above them - unless the old main stem has recovered enough to look really presentable, instead of miserable!
When you do cut down the old stem, you'll be surprised at how heavy it is - I think heavier than a woody tree of the same size.
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The best way to make a yucca „new“ ist to plant it out into the garden , then cut down the old stem and handle it like a normal yucca in a pot (water them regularly). After few months you find about 3 to 5 new shoots at the stem. Cut them off, except of one or two. If your plant have 3 stems, cut them in different heights.
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Do you know what species it is? Some from Guatemala, the really huge multi-branching kinds are like trees but very cold tender and rot from the inside out. This kind has stiff, waxy leaves about 60cm long x 7cm wide and can grow up to 10m tall. There are three or for variegated forms, mostly derived from Dutch green-house growers, even those sold in Australia. The nurseries like these because they are dead easy to propagate in a heated European greenhouse. The big branches can be cut up onto short sectiosn and rooted standing up, thus making tall indoor plants for northern Europe. The trunk sections van also be split in half vertically and rooted lying down on potting mix. This produced heaps of smaller plants that can be potted on and sold quickly.
There are other Yuccas from the SW USA that must be grown from seed, a much slower business, and the seeds harder to get and expensive too. This region is where the cold hardy Yuccas come from; the ones that withstand snow and blizzards every year. As a general indicator these Yuccas have very narrow silver leaves. Some make trunks (the Joshua Tree) and some do not. All are lovely but tend to grow slowly whereas the Tropical ones are much faster.
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We have a yuka in the garden which is nearly 2.5 meters tall and it has NEVER flowered. Are there varieties that dont flower? Its frustrating as we see little bits of yukas obviously not looked after with wonderful flowering spikes. Any advice would be welcome.
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I have the same problem, Jan, although my yucca is not quite as big as yours. I really hope somebody could give us some advice here.
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I can't really help, but for what it's worth our own yucca in southern Greece which flowers every year is planted close to the south-facing stone front of our verandah so gets lots of reflected heat. It gets no watering whatsoever. When after a few years a stem starts to get unsightly (poor leaves on part of it) I saw it off as close to the base as I can, and am always amazed at the weight of the stem, heavier than most normal wood - the plant must have an amazing ability to suck water up and retain it.
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I think I would be reluctant to saw it off as its such a lovely plant, shape etc. and it protects my Euphorbia dendroides Are there non-flowering types?? A few years ago it lost all its leaves in a severe winter, but all grew back beautifully, do you think this may have something to do with it?
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All Yuccas should flower - when mature, and when the conditions are right. The big kinds, such as Yucca guatamalensis, tend to take 7 yrs or longer to produce the short, stubby flower stalks - these generally tend to come from Central America where conditions are warm wet and Tropical. I suspect flowers are initiated by temperature. Joshua Trees which are also very tall, come from the SW of the USA, concentrated in Texas and Arizona where winters are very cold and snowy. Flowers in this plant appear when the weather warms in Spring. Guatamalensis is easily propagated by big cuttings/ truncheons which can be 2m long and more; they are much preferred by Dutch greenhouse growers as they can turn out a truck load of sale-able plants in a matter of months. Joshua Trees can only be grown from seed, so far as I know. They are very slow to get started.
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.........Two years later, and 15 years since we inherited the non flowering Yucca, we stopped dead in our tracks, after returning from holiday to see not one flower on he Yucca but several. Everything comes to those who wait !!!
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This Yucca has a chequered history.
We got it from our plant swap around 1999 as Yucca brevifolia (The Joshua Tree) which it became apparent it wasn't as it didn't develop a trunk.
A few years ago it appeared to die out but last year, I think, a small piece re-appeared and has been growing quite nicely, coming into flower in time for Christmas!
cheers
fermi
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Beautiful Fermi - Happy Christmas to you and many thanks for all your interesting posts during the past year. Here's to a successful 2020 in the garden 🥂
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Yes, Happy Christmas, Fermi - always great to see your super plants! Thanks so much :) :)
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I think this is Yucca gloriosa variegata which we got many years ago from Lambley Nursery, Ascot, (near Ballarat in Central Victoria) and which has done very well this year
cheers
fermi
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Lovely photos Fermi - unfortunately I no longer have the space for Yucca in my new, small garden but still think they are magnificent plants. Thanks for posting 😊
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YUCCAS by Trevor Nottle
THE MEDITERRANEAN GARDEN number 25, July 2001
We had two yuccas one, which had very sharp pointy leaves, near the front door. Although the flowers were beautiful the leaves were just too sharp pointy and dangerous. I disposed of that one. The first two photos
The other was on the south facing balcony and produced flowers of a slightly different shape. The third photo. This plant grew too big for the balcony and now is outside the front door on the open passage way. My neighbour also put her old Yucca in this space and they are left to look after themselves. Our resident, annoying, pigeon was born in the pot of one of these Yuccas and comes home to sit nearby wherever he finds a flat surface.
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Yuccas have such lovely flowers. One of ours is currently flowering. They started off as two small plants given to me by my sister. They became enormous and started interfering with the electricity wires running by our road. We were forced to have them cut down and paid to take away the spiky leaves. They had been 'butchered' so we thought they will die but they are back bushier then before and flowering. I am happy about that. We will of course keep removing some of the branches to keep them '.manegerble' and enjoy their flowers.