Let’s get

Heather Marsh tells us just how easy it is to bring a touch of the exotic to our gardens by growing a yucca

TALKING ABOUT YOUR GARDENING highs and lows (I’ve plenty of the latter to share) is good for us. Garden chat can lift your mood, improve your self-esteem and best of all, make you smile. Even if you are an experienced gardener, one who just likes to dabble, or for that matter, a complete novice, garden talk is a great way of relaxing, learning and socialising.

Anybody who loves their garden loves to talk about it, especially in the height of summer with lots going on. So when my lovely friend couldn’t wait to tell me about her flowering yucca, I was of course all ears.

Talking point

This magnificent specimen which was proving to be such a head turning spectacle is part of the large Agavaceae family of yucca plants. I like a bit of the tropics in my garden and as the effects of climate change continues to result in extremely hot temperatures and torrential downpours, we need to be adapting and growing plants that can cope.

Yuccas are bold architectural plants that are extremely tough and hardy and drought tolerant too. Dramatic and exotic looking, the only essential requirements for any yucca are plenty of sun and well-drained soil. They are low maintenance plants and if you are lucky, given the right conditions a mature plant (at least three years old) may honour you by flowering. Once a year during the summer months is blooming time or more than likely once every few years. The metre-high tower of creamy bell-shaped flowers is truly spectacular and really adds a wow factor to any garden, so my friend really did have something to talk about.

The largest of the yuccas is yucca Brevifolia, commonly known as the Joshua tree (pictured above), which can live for up to 1,000 years. A giant species reaching over 30 ft in height, it is native to the Mojave Desert in the Southwestern United States and is believed to have been named by early Mormon settlers. This yucca is extremely slow growing, taking approximately 60 years to reach maturity. The average age of one is 150 years old! This obviously isn’t the species of yucca to grow for most of us, especially not in this country – no matter how hot our summers get. Species like Yucca filamentosa, yucca flaccida and yucca gloriosa (this species being the one my friend grows) are all far better suited to be grown outside here in borders or even pots. Yucca elephantipes is a little more tender and certainly during the winter months is best grown indoors as a houseplant.

Sunflower update

Back in May when Liverpool hosted the Eurovision Song Contest on behalf of Ukraine, I asked you all to pay tribute to the courage and fighting spirit of the Ukrainian people by growing a sunflower, the country’s national emblem.

So many of you did just that and amongst the best specimens I’ve seen so far are in a front garden on Park Road, Liverpool 8. These spectacular giants stand proud and look incredible. Not only do they make you smile, but they also represent a real vision of hope for war-torn Ukraine.

If any other readers out there have grown sunflowers this summer, do please send your photos in for all to see.

shouldn’t need you watering them at all. One other word and it’s about safety, the yucca isn’t commonly called the Spanish dagger for nothing! Most species of yucca have leaves with sharp spiked tips that can cause injury, especially to the eyes or young children, so do be careful. A safe solution is to simply cut off the tips with a sharp pair of secateurs.

When is a Yucca not a Yucca… when it’s a Cordyline

Growing a Yucca

Once you’ve chosen which variety of yucca to grow, the key to its success is a bright sunny spot with good well-drained soil. If you’re growing one in a pot or container, a multipurpose peat-free compost with a handful of grit mixed in is best suited to the yuccas’ needs. Broken crocks at the bottom will also help keep the pot free draining. A yucca doesn’t like its roots soggy, especially in winter, and even in summer, only water pots when they are dry. Yuccas growing out in borders

I, like many others, am guilty of getting these two species confused on occasion. In fact, I’ve twice planted a cabbage palm (the common name for a cordyline) thinking it was a yucca. To be fair, the species look very similar and are in fact, distant relatives. While both prefer it hot and dry, the yucca thrives in poorer, drier soil. Ultimately though, it’s the flowering stem of the yucca which sets them apart. But having said that, what if it’s not in flower? On that note...

UNTIL NEXT TIME, HAPPY GARDENING. HEATHERMARSHYM@GMAIL.COM