Finding More

Yucca filamentosa 'Color Guard' has been a great plant for me. You may have noticed in the last few posts that it is a major and striking evergreen component of the winter Under Garden. I knew that last winter when they were much smaller and wanted more to extend the design further across the slope below the cozy cabin. I spent the entire growing season looking and never found any in the smaller size I was willing to pay for.

It is a pretty fast grower, gaining size quickly. There is no need to buy a larger sized, more expensive plant. They send up beautiful bloom spikes of large white flowers at a young age. Then like agaves, the crown that bloomed dies. They quickly send up new shoots and the clump keeps expanding in size.

But I want more and could not find them at a price I was willing to pay. They grow fast and multiply quickly, but the clumps stay so tight and they were still such babies I wasn't inclined to want to dig them up and divide them.

Well one out of the fifteen or so I planted has sent out some shoots well away from the original crown. Tomorrow I think I will dig and scratch that itch a bit more. Maybe next spring I will get bold and dig one of the older clumps for a sharp knife dividing. I know they are tough as nails. They can even be hard to get rid of. Digging them out can leave root pieces that re-sprout and start the plant over again.

I'd rather buy 4inch or one gallon size pots if I could, but tomorrow I'm digging for more.

And one day, some day in the future, dozens of Yucca filamentosa might sent up six foot tall spikes in unison of large showy white flowers in a massive display of epic proportions. One day.