Yucca nana

[DesertZone]

To get back to plants after that bit of philosophy - those yuccas in pots posted by Desert Zone are marvellous under whatever name! The biggest one must be quite an age.

It grew very fast, it was trimmed becuase I had it by some rocks before I dug it up and moved it to the pot.  I could not weed around it without a trim on the lower part.  Yucca nana has very sharp leaves.
It flowered and died shartly after, I now have small one in its place.

[DesertZone]

Here are a few photos of Yucca harrimaniae var. gilbertiana in bloom last summer.

Very nice!  It never gets old to see pics from your garden.

[Hoy]

I think I have to try more Yuccas! I do not know where to plant them though - but I've got an idea
John and DesertZone (Aaron?) you both have inspired me with your pictures
Martin, those I got from you do well so far but I have them potted up and in a coldhouse till I am ready to try them outside

Regarding the question of species:

Specimens are real entities, populations are real but species are artificial constrictions. You can never define a species to cover all kind of cases you'll find in nature. And definitions that hold in the wild will often fall apart when organisms are brought together in for example a garden. However, the concept of species is like all other taxa, a necessity to tally organisms and it also tells us about kinship.

[DesertZone]

John and DesertZone (Aaron?) you both have inspired me with your pictures

Lots of cold hardy yuccas, but they like warm summers.

PS, you can call me DesertZone, Aaron or DZ....it don't matter to me, just as long as you get a response.    

[Martin Tversted]

In countries with cool summer hybrids are the best. Y nana though are by far the most cool loving species I know of. Often starting to grow late March here. About hybrids a person like Benny Møller Jensen is working intensely with the production of new hybrids combining the coldwet tolerance of the filamentosa complex with stem and leaf differences from desert species.
Even hybrids betwin filamentosa and aborescent forms like elata seems to grow rather fast in our cool summers.
I have made the combination  flaccida x nana myself and hope for something interesting. Another combination I made of (neomexicana x glauca ) x flaccida is showing a lot of vigor and maybe they will also grow well in Norway.

Martin

[Nold]

I have made the combination  flaccida x nana myself and hope for something interesting. 

What about species like Y. pallida or rupicola? Both are hardy here, and though they will grow dry, they do come from wet climates (eastern and central Texas) and will take quite a bit of water.
I would think that hesperaloes (at least parviflora) would do well, too.

Bob

[Hoy]

Martin, please tell me when you have anything to trade

Bob, although eastern Texas is wet it also is warmer in summer than any place in Norway (or Denmark)! Summer heat is an important factor too.

[Tim Ingram]

Bob - you are right that Hesperaloe parviflora does OK, at least in our climate. I have grown it for quite a few years and it flowers every two or three years - really colourful. They are certainly well worth trying because they are easily raised from seed and if given a spot with reflected heat, say from a wall, they might flower more consistently. (Does Hesperaloe flower annually in the wild?).

[Nold]

(Does Hesperaloe flower annually in the wild?). 

I don't know. It's not a desert plant by any means. Say 100cm rain a year in the wild. Why it's completely hardy in Denver, I don't know. I imagine that the reason for its drought tolerance has something to do with evolution in the past; it doesn't flower here unless it gets quite a bit of rain (or irrigation) in spring.
A couple of other species, like H. campanulata, have overwintered here (I killed it by moving it around the garden too much) and H. funifera. There's a large plant of the latter at DBG, in a more or less protected location, but here, it turned to mush at 1 degree C warmer than it is right now. (-17C) Uh oh. There's another plant of funifera in the garden, covered with snow. Maybe it will be okay ....

Bob

[Hoy]

No plant in my garden will experience that (I hope)! The coldest in my time here (>25 years) is a few days of -16C, even last year which was extremely cold. Today we had +3C and sleet. Now it is +1 and you can fill what covers the ground in a glass and call it slush With some colour added it looks great

However, my personal low record is -35C in Northern Norway.

100cm precipitation is more than they get in Oslo and more than I get at my summerhouse I think but much less than I get here.

[cohan]

Martin very nice plant and photo. Yuccas in bloom are very dramatic and defiantly steal the show!
But they don't stop there. They give some of the best year round drama to the dry garden when the early morning or late afternoon sunlight reflects off the leaf fillaments. They seem to be on fire.

Here is my Yucca nana.

Love it!

[Fermi]

After reading about it on Alpine-L, possibly, or perhaps in one of Bob's books, I managed to germinate a few Yucca harrimaniae from last year's NARGS Seedex. I hope to see some get to flowering size - how long would it take? I wonder how big they'll get and whether I may have to site them very carefully to avoid those sharp leaves! Weeding will definitely be an issue those I think the Puya we have growing in another part of the rock garden would be worse - it has barbs facing downwards and upwards along the leaf edge so you're caught anyway you try to get in close!
cheers
fermi

[cohan]

Good luck with that one, Fermi, sounds nice.. there has also been talk about it on TooColdForCactus yahoo group, and I think Alplains has offered it..

[Martin Tversted]

The one from alplain looks very different to the one I have that wer e flowering

[Fermi]

Good luck with that one, Fermi, sounds nice.. there has also been talk about it on TooColdForCactus yahoo group, and I think Alplains has offered it..

Here's a pic of it as it is at present! I have a long way to go I think!


cheers
fermi