Yucca is not my favorite plant. I can't specify exactly why I feel this way. It has some aspects that are pretty neat, and it's native.
Part of the problem is, I don't think it belongs in a northern landscape. But it can be found even into Canada. It does like dry, sandy conditions. That sure makes it happy here. This one is Yucca filamentosa, which is easy to tell because of the "threads" that peel and curl off the edges of the leaves. Other common names are Adam's needle and Spanish bayonet.
Everything about this plant is coarse. I guess that's another thing that doesn't make it endearing to me. The flowers are pretty, but they are large and the whole plant is huge. This thing is about 6 feet tall.
It used to be in the Lily family, but it's been moved to the Aparagus family. The stalk certainly looks like a big asparagus! Now, if someone would develop a REALLY dwarf one (there is a dwarf one, but it's still 2 feet tall), the leaves would be really cool in the rock garden.
Anyway, this plant was a gift from a friend about 40 years ago, it survived being moved from down near our old house to up here. It has babies from time to time, and I managed to give some away this year. But, as another friend said, "Once you have a yucca, you always have a yucca!"
In other news: I spent almost all day answering questions for NBC. Yes, that NBC. We'll see what they do with it, if anything. Then I made a quick run to see if plants were on sale yet at Wal-Mart and Meijer. Wally World didn't have anything I wanted at a price I liked. Meijer... where I have been carefully watching for some things to go on sale... must have begun marking them down earlier this week. Stock was way down, but I did manage to snag some of the plants I wanted for only $4 each. Now I just need Lowe's to start marking down their perennials! We got 0.6 inch of rain last night. Really happy plant situation right now.
 | See Rock Garden Report 5 |
3 comments:
I vaguely remember my dad having one or two of these in his yard. They were nice enough but definitely not a favorite.
NBC? Now you've got my curiosity piqued.
Lulu: "Ooh, those things are everywhere here in Southern California! Our Dada knows a ditty about them that he learned when he was a kid on a cross-country trip that went through the Southwest! It goes, 'Little Tommy Tucker sat upon a yucca and he began to cry, Mama! Papa! Poor little stuck-up guy.'"
Java Bean: "Ayyyy, so mean!"
Ann- I think it's a minor subset of NBC, but it is part of the real NBC network. I answered their questions. I don't know what they will do with it.
Lulu- tell Dada that is a good one. Those leaves can be very pokey.
Post a Comment