Hi Jim,

which form are you interested in? I just dug up that one Y. gloriosa form with a tall trunk to get a better view of my Y. elata. There are some roots behind my shed now. Your area is cold too......nice test to see which of these gloriosa/recurvs are the hardiest!

What ever green form I can get my hands on,I was surprised to see them growing at the St.Louis zoo.

Another picture or 2-just for fun

I was quite amazed that as a strap seedling my Yucca Aloifolia marginata/Variegata? came through the December'10 freeze -12C min and 9 days below freezing.It got me thinking that if the variegated form can survive that freeze so can the green form so I bought one of those too. but a much bigger specimen

BTW anyone know why i'm not getting a direct image on the thread 😕

Thanks for posting those winter pics Tim. That was very helpful. I have both the solid green weeping recurvafloria and variegated gloriosa. Every single winter the weeping recurvafloria come through looking horrible with tattered leaves like that in my climate and yet normally the variegated gloriosa pulls through untouched ( except for that one winter.lol) Im pretty sure I have those same two varieties as yours. I always thought the variegated gloriosa was much more cold hardy. I didn't even think that it could be the snow that is damaging the recurvafloria. From now on I'm going to start pulling its leaves up and tying them together for winter. Did you purchase the variegated gloriosa at plant delights? It's listed there as zone 7 but I would def give at least a zone 6 plant ( mine unprotected in zone 5). Where did you get that giant Tennessee form gloriosa?

Oh, boy! How beautiful your yucca "trees" are!
By the chance do you have seeds of your

PS, the Y. gloriosa 'Big Tennessee form' went from a small offshoot in 2004 to this monster in 2007.

. This season the seeds of your 7 hybrid plants germinated successfully and do growing very good.

Nice find in St. Louis Jim!

Yucca aloifolia can't survive in our climate. It always dies. It seems to have difficulties when you have long periods below 10F (-12C). Y. aloifolia doesn't start to become reliable until you reach southern New Jersey on the east coast of the USA.

There are a few different forms of the recurvifolia type Yucca. Some appear to be 'identical' looking but some will die here in winter while others will survive. The recurvifolia types seem less hardy than the rigid gloriosa forms.......not sure why......I would have guessed the opposite. My Y. gloriosa variegata was from Fairweather Gardens in New Jersey.

I've never gotten seed to form on the Y. gloriosa 'Big Tennessee form'. It has bloomed in fall and in spring. This Yucca was sent to me by Rob of Tenn.

Yucca gloriosa 'variegata' is marginal in my climate. It does well most winters but it did die to the ground during the winter of 08-09. Here's it is in 2008. I would say variegata is one of the LEAST hardy gloriosa types......so if it's marginal in your climate the green forms will perform much better.
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Here's a pic of my 10 year old Yucca gloriosa "variegata" monsters. 😀

Hi Aaron,

is your Y. gloriosa variegata so small since it get killed to the ground EVERY year? Your yard looks very exposed....I'm sure that takes a toll too.

Still looking for green Gloriosa

Hi Aaron,

is your Y. gloriosa variegata so small since it get killed to the ground EVERY year? Your yard looks very exposed....I'm sure that takes a toll too.

I think it only froze back once other than when it blooms. I think that year my big j-tree froze back it may have also? I think more than anything I don't water it any more. It is hard to get to now that it is within the "canyon".
The biggest problems I have had with them is when they get bigger they try and bloom here late in the fall, I have seen it bloom when the snow falls. When this happens I think it weakens them and then the bigger ones die over the winter. Next big one I get, I think I will remove the flower stalk early, or cover the plant.
This year I was going to try and water it well and grow it up again, but I forget about it. 😆

Aaron,

My Y. gloriosa variegata died to the ground the year after it bloomed too. The whole Yucca was mush....trunk......and leaves. Perhaps they loose a lot of hardiness after blooming?? This would be odd since none of the other Y. gloriosas (green forms) show this trait. My gut tells me the variegated form is less hardy and perhaps after blooming it's even less hardy. We need more testing since that 08-09 winter was bad in our area........we need another to see if the variegata will die without a bloom.

Nov 2008 = 5.33 inches of precip
Dec 2008 = 7.28 inches of precip
Jan 2009 = 3.94 inches of precip

Cold snap in Taunton, MA which likely killed it after all that precipitation.
Jan 15 High 17F Low 1F
Jan 16 High 19F Low -7F
Jan 17 High 19F Low -7F

Tim,
If you want I would gladly send you a start of one. I think I got them from Plant Delights alongtime ago. 😀

I also been thinking about that awesome faxon yucca it could be be cross, if not it sure is awesome form. I will have to ask him where he got them. And good luck with your new one.

Hi Aaron,

thanks for the variegata offer but I may dig mine up and toss them since they don't perform well in my climate..........they end up with loads of brown spots all over the leaves......we get too much precip for them. There are a few forms of Yuccas which get these brown spots........not a good trait. On another note.......I plan on sending you a box-o-yuccas so you can test them in your colder climate........my daughter is in a few swim meets (tomorrow and Sunday) so I'll fall behind on free time again. Hopefully I can get you a box soon so the roots can get into the ground.

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That sounds awesome Tim! But is there any way I can send you some maney for the shipping? 😀

My pleasure......it will be fun to see which Yuccas end up being the hardiest!