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Yucca advice please
Hi all...
We have (or at least, had) a very healthy yucca plant. It's been planted directly in the ground for a number of years. It's currently about 7-8ft tall. A couple of things have happened this summer 1. The thing seemed to have flowered - a couple of tall stalks appeared at the top, with lots of yellow flowers 2. With the hot weather we had in July, the ground around the base of the yucca caught alight. The tree wasn't actually on fire, but the area was smouldering for about 12 hours. Now, a lot of the lower leaves are turning brown. I'm not sure if that's as a result of the yucca having flowered or a result of the fire. I have photos on line if you'd care to take a look http://www.philhartree.plus.com/yucca/yucca.htm We have now cut back the brown leaves and the flowering stalks. In addition, it looks like the crown is actually made up from 3 stems that are all together. The flowering stems appeared from between these stems, rather than from inside each of them. I hope that make sense. Thanks in advance for any help / advice Rgds Phil |
#2
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Yucca advice please
In message . com, Phil
writes We have (or at least, had) a very healthy yucca plant. It's been planted directly in the ground for a number of years. It's currently about 7-8ft tall. A couple of things have happened this summer 1. The thing seemed to have flowered - a couple of tall stalks appeared at the top, with lots of yellow flowers 2. With the hot weather we had in July, the ground around the base of the yucca caught alight. The tree wasn't actually on fire, but the area was smouldering for about 12 hours. Now, a lot of the lower leaves are turning brown. I'm not sure if that's as a result of the yucca having flowered or a result of the fire. I have photos on line if you'd care to take a look http://www.philhartree.plus.com/yucca/yucca.htm We have now cut back the brown leaves and the flowering stalks. In addition, it looks like the crown is actually made up from 3 stems that are all together. The flowering stems appeared from between these stems, rather than from inside each of them. I hope that make sense. I got to your site but could not get the photographs. Yuccas are very tough. We had one in our front garden and dug it out 20 years ago. It re-appeared around 10 years ago and quickly produced lots of babies. My advice to you would be to wait and see. Ours flowers several times a year and never gets brown leaves, so you may be in for a long wait. -- June Hughes |
#3
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Yucca advice please
It's not a Yucca, but a distant relative in the same family. It is
Cordyline australis aka 'Cabbage Tree', 'Cabbage Palm', 'Torbay Palm' etc. etc. It's not a palm nor is it remotely related to the palms, but folks will insist on using that name. The single 'trunk' topped with a head of leaves is the juvenile phase, which usually lasts for 5 - 7 years with the older leaves naturally dying away as the 'trunk' develops. In time, a large, terminal panicle of small, greyish white, pinkish white or yellow tinged white flowers is produced, often followed by a mass of rather attractive, pea-sized, white berries. These last for several months or at least until the jackdaws discover them. No more leaves will be produced by that crown since it has fulfilled its purpose and produced a flower spike. The old foliage eventually dies away since leaves can't last forever. However not all is lost. Several new shoots form at the base of the flower spike as it develops. These grow and extend, forming branches with new crowns that flower after 2+ years when they have attained sufficient maturity. In time you end up with a rather splendid branching tree regularly producing masses of flowers. That is until we have a truly cold winter with prolonged, penetrating frosts, which kill all of the top growth. Then, the thick, fleshy, subterranean rootstock produces lots of young shoots part-way through the following summer. In time these develop into a thicket of 'trunks' if allowed to grow naturally and the process starts all over again. Yours has already produced one basal shoot and this will flower eventually, giving you a twin trunked tree that could look rather impressive. Your plant is in the transitional stage following its first flowering. All of the leaves on the current flowered 'trunk' will die away, but will be replaced with more on the new branches about to form. Hot, dry weather accelerates the death of older leaves, which is why it appears that a lot of them are dying away suddenly. If you want the leaves to last longer, water the plant well in summer and feed it regularly. All Cordylines grow best in rich, moist, but well-drained soils and can struggle when conditions are parched and starved. I suspect that this long dry summer had far more to do with the rapid yellowing of older leaves than the fire. |
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