Hi,
I have a yucca in my front garden which was successfully moved last
Spring from a shady border in the back garden to it's present location,
thanks for the advice back then! Since then it has flourished and in Autumn
a flower spike started growing. Whilst the individual flowers are now
starting to die off a bit, overall it still looks good. However, due to it's
length ( flower spike must be around 4ft tall) the plant is getting rocked a
bit in the high winds we have been getting recently. Could someone advise
please, do I allow the flower to die right back, or do I remove it now?

regards,

David

In message ,
writes
Hi,
I have a yucca in my front garden which was successfully moved last
Spring from a shady border in the back garden to it's present location,
thanks for the advice back then! Since then it has flourished and in Autumn
a flower spike started growing. Whilst the individual flowers are now
starting to die off a bit, overall it still looks good. However, due to it's
length ( flower spike must be around 4ft tall) the plant is getting rocked a
bit in the high winds we have been getting recently. Could someone advise
please, do I allow the flower to die right back, or do I remove it now?

Over the past twenty odd years, we have treated our yucca plant very
badly and it is still thriving. Bas was so fed up with it around 20
years ago that he dug it out completely but it came back with a
vengeance four years later. I keep giving the babies away to friends
but it still goes on and on. I don't see that cutting off the flowers
will do it any harm.

There was some discussion here a few months ago about whether or not the
plant one person was asking about was in fact a yucca and IIRC it turned
out to be something else. The flowers shoot out of the plant on a long
stalk and are whitish, bell-shaped clusters, each flower being a couple
of inches long. HTH
--
June Hughes

.. wrote:
Hi,
I have a yucca in my front garden which was successfully moved
last Spring from a shady border in the back garden to it's present
location, thanks for the advice back then! Since then it has
flourished and in Autumn a flower spike started growing. Whilst the
individual flowers are now starting to die off a bit, overall it
still looks good. However, due to it's length ( flower spike must be
around 4ft tall) the plant is getting rocked a bit in the high winds
we have been getting recently. Could someone advise please, do I
allow the flower to die right back, or do I remove it now?
regards,

David

I allow mine to die back, then a few weeks later, remove the huge spiky
stalk, I try not to remove this until it's gone brown, I fear I may damage
the plant if I do it while it's green...another point to note, once it's
flowered, it usually sends up another head, ours now has 7 heads and six of
them flowered last year, but during dead leaf removal, I snapped off a huge
chunk of plant (3 of the heads and a 3 inch thick branch adjoining them to
the main trunk)...it may also send up shoots from the base, these can be
snapped off and will readily grow into new plants just by sticking them in a
pot of soil - no TLC required with these things, they're even growing in the
wasteland at the side of my house where some of them were unceremoniously
chucked a few years ago.

June Hughes wrote:
In message ,
writes
Hi,
I have a yucca in my front garden which was successfully
moved last Spring from a shady border in the back garden to it's
present location, thanks for the advice back then! Since then it has
flourished and in Autumn a flower spike started growing. Whilst the
individual flowers are now starting to die off a bit, overall it
still looks good. However, due to it's length ( flower spike must be
around 4ft tall) the plant is getting rocked a bit in the high winds
we have been getting recently. Could someone advise please, do I
allow the flower to die right back, or do I remove it now?
Over the past twenty odd years, we have treated our yucca plant very
badly and it is still thriving. Bas was so fed up with it around 20
years ago that he dug it out completely but it came back with a
vengeance four years later. I keep giving the babies away to friends
but it still goes on and on. I don't see that cutting off the flowers
will do it any harm.

There was some discussion here a few months ago about whether or not
the plant one person was asking about was in fact a yucca and IIRC it
turned out to be something else. The flowers shoot out of the plant
on a long stalk and are whitish, bell-shaped clusters, each flower
being a couple of inches long. HTH

Yep, this sounds like mine too...they never seed though, I'm sure I read
somewhere that they can only be polinated by some tropical moth or other
insect? - I've seen our native bees and other bugs having a go at the
flowers though, but apparently they are the wrong shape / size / both.

In message , Phil L
writes
June Hughes wrote:
In message ,
writes
Hi,
I have a yucca in my front garden which was successfully
moved last Spring from a shady border in the back garden to it's
present location, thanks for the advice back then! Since then it has
flourished and in Autumn a flower spike started growing. Whilst the
individual flowers are now starting to die off a bit, overall it
still looks good. However, due to it's length ( flower spike must be
around 4ft tall) the plant is getting rocked a bit in the high winds
we have been getting recently. Could someone advise please, do I
allow the flower to die right back, or do I remove it now?
Over the past twenty odd years, we have treated our yucca plant very
badly and it is still thriving. Bas was so fed up with it around 20
years ago that he dug it out completely but it came back with a
vengeance four years later. I keep giving the babies away to friends
but it still goes on and on. I don't see that cutting off the flowers
will do it any harm.

There was some discussion here a few months ago about whether or not
the plant one person was asking about was in fact a yucca and IIRC it
turned out to be something else. The flowers shoot out of the plant
on a long stalk and are whitish, bell-shaped clusters, each flower
being a couple of inches long. HTH

Yep, this sounds like mine too...they never seed though, I'm sure I read
somewhere that they can only be polinated by some tropical moth or other
insect? - I've seen our native bees and other bugs having a go at the
flowers though, but apparently they are the wrong shape / size / both.


I don't know how mine has propagated but it has had lots of babies over
the years. They normally come up around the base of the plant. Someone
here knows all about them and I can't think who it is.
--
June Hughes

On 28/1/07 20:31, in article , "."
. wrote:

Hi,
I have a yucca in my front garden which was successfully moved last
Spring from a shady border in the back garden to it's present location,
thanks for the advice back then! Since then it has flourished and in Autumn
a flower spike started growing. Whilst the individual flowers are now
starting to die off a bit, overall it still looks good. However, due to it's
length ( flower spike must be around 4ft tall) the plant is getting rocked a
bit in the high winds we have been getting recently. Could someone advise
please, do I allow the flower to die right back, or do I remove it now?


If it's bothering you, remove the flower spike and let it dry out somewhere.
Use it for indoor flower arrangements. I begged several from a local
nursery several years ago, just touched them here and there with gold spray
paint and they looked truly spectacular in a Christmas flower arrangement in
church.
--
Sacha
http://www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
http://www.discoverdartmoor.co.uk/
(remove weeds from address)

"Phil L" wrote in message
k...


I allow mine to die back, then a few weeks later, remove the huge spiky
stalk, I try not to remove this until it's gone brown, I fear I may damage
the plant if I do it while it's green...another point to note, once it's
flowered, it usually sends up another head, ours now has 7 heads and six
of them flowered last year, but during dead leaf removal, I snapped off a
huge chunk of plant (3 of the heads and a 3 inch thick branch adjoining
them to the main trunk)...it may also send up shoots from the base, these
can be snapped off and will readily grow into new plants just by sticking
them in a pot of soil - no TLC required with these things, they're even
growing in the wasteland at the side of my house where some of them were
unceremoniously chucked a few years ago.

Thanks, everyone for the advice, I'm try what you have suggested, Phil. I've
just had a careful look at it just now and the flower spike is still
healthily very green and would be worried about causing damage if I hacked
it off just now. I'll tether it to prevent it blowing over as it's causing
the plant to become a bit lopsided (plant + flower is about 7ft tall).
When you do remove it, how far down into the plant do you go?

regards,

David

David wrote:
"Phil L" wrote in message
k...


I allow mine to die back, then a few weeks later, remove the huge
spiky stalk, I try not to remove this until it's gone brown, I fear
I may damage the plant if I do it while it's green...another point
to note, once it's flowered, it usually sends up another head, ours
now has 7 heads and six of them flowered last year, but during dead
leaf removal, I snapped off a huge chunk of plant (3 of the heads
and a 3 inch thick branch adjoining them to the main trunk)...it may
also send up shoots from the base, these can be snapped off and will
readily grow into new plants just by sticking them in a pot of soil
- no TLC required with these things, they're even growing in the
wasteland at the side of my house where some of them were
unceremoniously chucked a few years ago.

Thanks, everyone for the advice, I'm try what you have suggested,
Phil. I've just had a careful look at it just now and the flower
spike is still healthily very green and would be worried about
causing damage if I hacked it off just now. I'll tether it to prevent
it blowing over as it's causing the plant to become a bit lopsided
(plant + flower is about 7ft tall). When you do remove it, how far down
into the plant do you go?

You'll find that it dries out into a sort of hard reedy stalk in a few weeks
time, I usually just snap them off as low down as i can get them, the
remaining stalks seem to become a new 'branch' within a year or two.

June Hughes wrote:

I don't know how mine has propagated but it has had lots of babies
over the years. They normally come up around the base of the plant.

Mine has, usually around six or seven per year, sometimes more...the roots
are very close to the surface and they send shoots up from these, they can't
reproduce any other way in this country