Yucca Care Cultivation Methods
Yucca Flowers How To Plant And Grow A Yucca Plant?
Yucca is an attractive looking perennial shrub that is noted for its evergreen sword-shaped leaves and having a bunch of whitish flowers. Yucca belongs to the Asparagaceae family. It is commonly used as ornamental plants. The fruits, flowering stems, seed and flowers of the plant of many species are edible. These shrubs are widely grown as architectural plants and they add a unique and attractive look to the garden landscape. When the plant is in full bloom, you will find a cluster of flowers appearing on a thin or thick stalk depending on the kind you grow. Yuccas can often live later than 100 years.
More about Yucca
The Yucca plant has over 40 species of perennial trees and shrubs and these plants added, give a unique beauty to any garden. They are mainly grown in gardens for their large rosettes of foliage, that are perfectly complemented by the pale white looking individual flowers, that arrive during late spring early summer season in Australia. The roots of the yucca plant can be boiled and used in herbal teas. This plant is also used for craft purposes, also to make dye. The large rosettes of leaves are sword shaped and are either blue green or variegated in colour. The flower spikes are seen to tower over the foliage and they develop very quickly. The flowers are bell or cup shaped and come in white or greenish-cream coloured. The blooms look very delicate from a distance however, closeup the flowers are actually thick and waxy and they face downward pointing to the ground during the day, and change position and face the sky during the night. This is when the flowers let out a pleasing smell, that attracts the yucca moths, these yucca moths then pollinate the flowers. The variegated yucca types add extra interest to a berm garden, this is a garden built on a slope.
How to grow Yucca?
If you want your Yucca perennial shrub to grow and flower well, then it is ideal to grow it in areas where there is bright sunlight. They prefer to grow in well-drained and light soil. These plants are drought resistant and can tolerate frost.
How to care for a Yucca?
To care for the yuccas plant or Adam’s Needle varieties is easy, you will need to prune the yuccas large flowering stems, they should be cut off after the plant finishes flowering. You will most likely need a saw or long handled pruners to cut through the stem. Some flowering stems are thicker than others. Watch your eyes, for the pointy sharp leaf ends. On some varieties, they are very dangerous and sharp. (this is when you should wear safety glasses and gloves).
Are Yuccas Invasive?
Yuccas can be planted around pools, close to the house anywhere you like, but be wary of how large they grow, and how sharp their pointy needle leaves can be. If the plant grows too big, they are easy to get rid of. It may be useful to know that yuccas do not have invasive roots, that could become a nuisance, and cause damage to pipes or constructions of houses. Even though some have tap roots and others have a radial shallow root system. Yucca filamentosa and Yucca gloriosa are not classed as invasive or a weed, this includes all yuccas.
Propagating from cutting
Taking cuttings from the Yucca plant is a popular process. It is important to take the cuttings of a well grown and mature plant. The cutting has to be taken during the spring season.
- You should take at least 3 inches of cutting from a well-grown plant. Use sharp and clean shears to make the cutting.
- After taking the cutting, trim all the leaves, but the top leaves of the cutting. This will help in reducing the moisture loss of the plant.
- Place the Yucca cutting in a cool area for a few days. The cutting will slowly dry out and this way it can develop roots better.
- The cutting can now be placed in potting soil. It has to be kept in an area where there is indirect light.
- The roots will start to appear after three to four weeks and this concludes the propagation of the Yucca plant.
How Do I get My Yucca To Flower?
Knowing more about what it takes to get yuccas to blooms. These shrubby perennials are slow growing and they have to become flowering size before they will even think to bloom. After this is not hard to get them to flower. Yuccas are very easy to grow they are so hardy that they can go without water for months on end. But this is actually a part of what makes them flower. The secret is not that they need a complete fertiliser to bloom. They can do without fertiliser forever…..
So let us take a look at what actually makes yuccas bloom. What a yucca needs to bloom is a dry spell just like the clivias for eight weeks this will spur the flowers on. Then really water them well. After six weeks you will see what looks like an asparagus looking spike appearing from the middle of the spiky leaves. You can schedule yuccas to bloom at any time of the year as long as you follow the water and dry method. This is why you see yuccas bloom in the spring after the dry hot summer, nature will have yuccas flower after the spring rains.
Propagating Yucca from seed
You can propagate the Yucca plant from its seeds as well. To see the best results, you should scar the seeds before planting it in a well draining potting mix or soil. They should be placed one or two seed lengths deep in the soil. They have to be placed in a warm and sunny area. The soil has to be watered until seedlings develop. The seedlings will start to show in one or two week’s time. If you do not spot the seedling, allow the soil to dry and then again start watering the soil.
