 |
Yucca filamentosa |
 |
| Common name |
Adam's needle |
| Family |
agavaceae |
| Life cycle |
perennial (Z5-10) |
| Flowers |
white (June) |
| Size |
4-5 ft |
| Light |
sun |
| Cultural notes |
not fussy |
Evergreen strappy foliage in a clump. Upright flower stalks in early summer bursting with ivory bell-shaped flowers. The flowers don't last too long in our garden, but the foliage maintains an architectural presence all along. I haven't figured out exactly which conditions work best - some neighbors on my block have beautiful, multi-stalked specimens that obviously receive little or no care, while mine always seem scragglier. Maybe it's another plant that thrives on neglect...
|
We left this plant behind in our Pennsylvania garden (and wish it well); we don't grow it in Houston. About my plant portraits
PlantLinks to other web pages about Yucca filamentosa
Visitors to this page have left the following comments| paul | Jul 12, 2005 | Hi.
Great pics (Yucca filamentosa)!
You say "flowers don't last too long in our garden." What's long? What's short? What's average? A week? A month? 3 months? I can't find that info anywhere.
Also, i'm trying to find out if i can expect it to flower again next year, or if i have to wait for a pup to grow. And if so, after how many years do they flower?
Thanx 4 everything!
paul
I think the flowers are in their prime for only about a week, but maybe a little longer. They do bloom year after year, once they get established. How quickly they flower depends on what you start with - a sizeable division would be much faster than a seedling. |
| Gordon Downey | Aug 03, 2005 | Excellent information about Yucca filamentosa....I have one in my garden (in a dry river bed) It has flowered in a marvellous way.....What do I do now that the flowers have gone. I expect it seeds! Do I cut the needle or let it be?
For many plants, I favor leaving the flowerstalk after it blooms, for ornament and for the birds. But I find the spent stalk of the yucca unattractive, and remove it when it drops its flowers. I've not seen yucca seedlings - it prefers to spread by roots, in my experience. |
| Valentina | Dec 27, 2005 | I have several zone 4 Yucca filamentosa in containers - it never bloomed last summer? I have kept 2 inside in pots -how can I get these to bloom?
Live in Alberta's Canadian rockies |
| codrinxyz, romania | Jun 04, 2008 | no water, full sun, forget it and you will get a very beautiful and little longer last flower. |
| Carol | Jun 06, 2008 | I like your site, you have right to the point answers and great pictures!
Thanks,
Carol |
| Tracy | Jul 19, 2008 | I have had a yucca for two years and was told it would only bloom every 10 years. It bloomed the first year I had it with a heavy thick stalk. I left it over the winter and went to break it off this spring...it is very wood-like and I was only able to break it off so far. Is it something I should let soften on its own or do I cut it off.
Some of my neighbors have yuccas that bloom every year.
Yucca flowerstalks can indeed be hard. I would use pruning shears to lop it off - but its presence is unlikely to interfere with flowering of the plant. |
| Karen | Mar 28, 2009 | Hi and thanks for your column. I planted a yucca filamentosa last spring and it did well all summer. But we had a heavy snow fall over winter and the leaves, or needles are smashed to the ground. Should they be cut off and will the plant get new ones? Thanks, Karen
I think you can cut off the leaves at this point - the plant will soon be putting out new growth. |
| Jeanette | Apr 25, 2009 | Great site. I have a beautiful yucca, 35 years old and counting, and it blooms every year. Full sun, no water. My neighbor has what I always assumed was a more scraggly, less well situated (under the shade of a locust tree) yucca and today I was stunned to see it blooming -- but the blooms don't look like mine, or the picture above. They are multiple stalks (at the top, though,just like a yucca)and with fronds of small white flowers -- looking sort of like the pattern created by fireworks. What is this? |
| Rodger | May 26, 2009 | I have the Adam needle yucca plants with the Yucca bugs on it. How do I get rid of them? |
| Ed | Jun 05, 2010 | I have 1 large blooming yucca filamentosa, that blooms every year i have trasplanted its seedlings to differant locations around my yard, they are wonderful and do well even here in PA. I am from the south west and it brings a little home to the north east |
| Greg | Jun 17, 2010 | Hi. I'm located in Albany, NY, and for 15 yrs since it's been transplanted my Yucca has bloomed fully just in time for July 4th. That was until 2007 when it was July 1st, and 2008 it was June 28th, and 2009 June 25th, and this year it looks like it will be fully bloomed by Sunday June 21st. Can anyone report a similar trend in their bloom dates or provide an explanation? Does it bloom earlier when it's older? Why just the last 4 years? Nothing has changed with respect to the care I give it (which is none) or its surroundings. Thank you |
| Sue | Jun 18, 2010 | Hi. I live in the area of Cleveland, Ohio. I bought a house 3 years ago and the landscaping has many Yucca. Some on west and south sides of house, some in open areas. Greg, this year they bloomed June 15th, much earlier than the last 2 years. I thought maybe because we had such warm early spring temperatures. I tried to thin out one section of flower bed because dozens of Yuccas crowded into it. I'm sad to say I killed about 3/4 of them. I do have 7 new shoots though from parts of roots left in soil. All of the Yuccas don't bloom every year. I wish they would as I have many and it would be a beautiful sight. In an area where one Yucca has over time spread to 7 or 8 Yuccas, I may only get 2 of them to bloom. If anyone knows how I could get more to bloom please let me know. Thank you. |
| Greg | Jun 18, 2010 | Hi Sue. Thanks for your report on the bloom dates. I transplanted 4 yuccas by literally tearing out youngsters from my father's yucca stand (which is quite dense and crowded) and included a root ball (or portion of one). 3 of them were green through the first season with no blooms. The 4th was brown all season. The next season the 4th one put up new growth. After 2 seasons I had at least one bloom. 15 years later I everage 3 or 4 bloom stalks on 6 plants (It's probably more like 10 plants including new youngsters hanging off the sides). I can only attribute it to the fact the the root was still alive and perhaps just needed to get its energy together. But, I'm no gardener by any means so this is a laymen's explantion. Good luck! |
| Jason | Jul 14, 2010 | Hi guys! Great postings! I found out alot from this web page thx |
| Ruth | Oct 02, 2010 | I would like to know if I can bring in my potted yuccas for the winter time or do they need to stay outside to go through a dorment stage. |
| Jay | May 13, 2011 | My yucca, planted on the edge of a natural area with lots of shade, is blooming for the first time since we moved here 26 years ago! What a surprise!!! |
| annette | Jul 15, 2011 | What a wonderful web page i hadn,t got a clue what my yucca was and you told me with a picture confirming it thank you. |
| Christine | Jul 16, 2011 | We have had our yuuca plants for about 8 years and they are in bloom for the first time! Wonderful surprise! |
| gjohn1939@live dot com | Aug 29, 2011 | lost a 10 footer in Hurricane Irene. Cut off the top in 3 large pieces and
planted them. Do I have a chance they will "root"?
I think it is more likely that you'll get regrowth from the roots of the original - but attempting to root is worth a try, too. Either way, it will take some time before the new plants reach blooming size. |
| Sarah | Sep 24, 2011 | I transplanted my Yucca 3 years ago from my Mom's garden in Michigan to my own in Virginia. The foliage is very strong and has grown, but has yet to bloom. Is there anything I should do for it, or just give it more time to adjust?
I don't know if there is anything you can do to speed up flowering. Providing some fertilizer high in phosphorus may help, but chances are, it will flower when it's good and ready ;-) |
| Heather | Jan 25, 2012 | Have enjoyed the discussion about Yukka filamentosa. I'm in Australia now but have gardened in MD.,so I understand time and climate differences. However I grow Yukkas and the like plants. My question is, how do I grow the seeds? I have some filementosa and glauca seeds and even though I know they'll take ages to flower but I enjoy the challenge of growing from seed. Thanks. |
| helencantrell3@gmail.com | Nov 30, 2012 | Have tried to rescue many pieces of yucca root, uprooted from CT beachfront garden after "hurricane" Sandy--planted most in my backyard in sunny, poor soil bank. Am overwintering other big root pieces in garage, wrapped in burlap, will plant in spring, see what comes up. Anyone else out there any advice on how to rescue uprooted native East Coast coastal plants? |
| Jenn | Mar 27, 2013 | I planted a yucca in poor soil 6 years ago. I have just noticed it has given me a beautiful array of bloom. I was overjoyed as were my neighbours.Ilive in the city with all those pollutants and it has amazed me. Do they flower again or does it mean each year I can look forward to wishful thinking, and no bloom. Thank you from a very proud Aussie
Yuccas are known for not blooming consistently every year. As long as their basic needs are met, they shouldn't withhold bloom for years on end, though. So if they don't flower next year, just hold out for the year after. |
| Jan | May 20, 2013 | Hi everyone! Love this conversation. I live in Washington, DC and I have a very large Yucca - Filamentosa about six or seven years old. It blooms every year but the black ants will not leave it alone. I used a plant spray to get rid of the ants. What is the best way to cut back the sharp foliage, especially at the bottom? |
| Jan | May 20, 2013 | I forgot to mention, I also use a plant food-Miracle Grow. It keeps the plant healthy and green. Believe it or not, I have seen the green pods once in the few years I have had it. I hope they grow seeds this year. I want to plant them in my back yard...oh yeah and it keeps the cats away! LOL!
|
| amanda | Jun 12, 2013 | My yucca is beautiful this year. But all ofthe greenhas little beetles all over it. Wht can I use to get rid of them. |
| Lisa | Jun 12, 2013 | Thanks for all the insight! We don't have green thumbs, but luckily inherited many beautiful, and blooming Yucca plants. This year,just one of the blooms is infested with tiny little ants - not the others. Should we be concerned? Thanks for your help! |
| jane ryan | Jun 10, 2014 | amanda, i'm a year late but your 'little beetles' are called yucca plant bugs. i am a professional gardener and i'm battling them at one of my properties. last year i got rid of them with sevin, but that's so toxic to bees that i felt bad about it. they're back with a vengeance this year anyway, so now i'm trying horticultural oil instead. non-toxic, but we'll see what kind of results i get! |
| jane ryan | Jun 10, 2014 | btw i'm located in new jersey. apparently yucca plant bugs are most prevalent in new jersey as well as arizona...go figure! |
| Robert | Jul 06, 2014 | My Son took over my Plant nursery and I kept at all times about 4-5000 yuccas in 3 gal. containers, about 500 7 gal containers and about 4-5000 1 gal containers. Mine only bloomed when they were 4 yrs old and only while in 7 gal containers and even thin only about 10 of the 7 gal would bloom. |
| Georgette | Feb 17, 2016 | Hi my plant blooms, but they never seam to open. Why??? |
| Paul | Apr 30, 2016 | In the UK... I have one of these and it's getting too wide for the space it is in. Can I cut the outer leaves from the base to reduce its spread? |
| Tim | Jun 16, 2018 | Yucca flowers open at night and close during the day. Yucca flowers get pollenate at night by the Yucca moth. If you don’t Get seed pods it’s likely you live in an area which does not have Yucca moths or have beetles which lay larvae in the flower’s pistol which will abort the flowers prematurely. |
I welcome comments about my web pages; feel free to use the form below to
leave feedback about this particular page. For the benefit of other visitors
to these pages, I will list any relevant comments you leave, and if
appropriate, I will update my page to correct mis-information. Faced with an
ever-increasing onslaught of spam, I'm forced to discard any comments including
html markups. Please submit your comment as plain text. If you have a
comment about the website as a whole, please leave it in my
guestbook. If you
have a question that needs a personal response, please
e-mail me.
|
