Wow, Paul! What the yuccas you have! And your Needle! And everything! By the way, my Gunnera is regrowing after minus 29C winter!

Igor, -29C for Gunnera????!!!!??? I think mine came back from similar (maybe -28C?) with a thick leaf mulch, but it died that summer. That's one I will grow if I can get some land with a stream or pond (a man can dream!)...

The Yuccas are (mostly) thanks to Tim (Ma) and others begin generous. None of my attempts at hybridizing Yucca have been successful (so far)... Just planted out some seedlings of Y. thompsoniana x Y. filata 'Big mama', pretty excited about that one!

Awesome shots, Paul. The needle and minor look really healthy compared to some of the shots after previous winters. A long root broke off of the main P. aureosulcata "spectibilis" when I was planting it. I planted the root behind my backyard fence, and a shoot has now started to emerge 😆

Wow, that is quite the upsizing on the bamboo.
Likely ensures survival from now on. 😀

Plants have really taken off over the years, good work.
Love the desert garden.

Barb

Thanks Barb! That aureosulcata had one stem near 20' 2 years ago, but was ~12-15 last year. This year is has a ton of new tick culms coming up... Really exciting.

Cam- That's good news. I gave a chunk of Phy. aureosulcata rhizome to Scotty a few years ago and it did not do a thing! I think that spectibilis was ready to leap this year, so it should be a good one for you!

Interesting to see Tenn gloriosa is hardier than Tenn recurvifolia...........this is a great experiment!

I'm surprised the Y. Recurv 'Tenn' x reverchonii-thompsoniana looks so good.

Keep the update photos of Y. aloifolia X coming as this Yucca will be a great specimen.

Was there any damage to the Y. recurv 'Tenn' x filatas? They look pretty green in the photos.

Tim,

They actually tend to do better than straight filamentosa. I have no idea why this is, but am glad for it. I think that one of them might have some slight leaf discolouration on some of the oldest leaves, otherwise they are spotless. Will they trunk? Will they stay hardy when/if they do?

I don't think those recurv. x (rev x thomp) will be hardy in the long term unless they somehow gain hardiness as time goes on.

The Tennessee Yucca experiment was to weed out the weak plants, it looks like there is only that one recurv. left, and about 10 gloriosa (hybrids?). I now have the job of transplanting the gloriosa to give them more room to grow!

Very cool Paul-the cactus garden looks awesome-

Always fun when the Bamboo starts growing 😀

Cactus flowers are b-e-a-u-t-i-f-u-l-!

Thanks Jim!

Tim- I found a picture of the Y. gloriosa seedlings, they are front left in this picture. Note that despite me tieing the leaves into a 'spear' the rabbits still ate the leaf tips on some of them!

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"They actually tend to do better than straight filamentosa. I have no idea why this is, but am glad for it. I think that one of them might have some slight leaf discolouration on some of the oldest leaves, otherwise they are spotless. Will they trunk? Will they stay hardy when/if they do?"

I only have one or two of those Y. recurv 'Tenn' x filata hybrids in my garden. Yours are bigger than mine since mine are still in containers!! The recurv 'Tenn' was sent to me as a recurvifolia but I'd really classify it closer to Y. flaccida in my opinion. The recurv 'Tenn' mother plant in my garden is not trunk forming; however, it quickly grows 1' tall trunks then flowers and dies. New offshoots emerge to keep the plant going. The recurv 'Tenn' is an unusual Yucca and has the most massive bloom in my garden. The hybrids may trunk since they have elata genes too!!

"I don't think those recurv. x (rev x thomp) will be hardy in the long term unless they somehow gain hardiness as time goes on."

I'd be surprised if they survive long term too since they have the rev-thomp roots. None of mine seem to have the recurv roots. If they did that one my prove to be hardier.

"The Tennessee Yucca experiment was to weed out the weak plants, it looks like there is only that one recurv. left, and about 10 gloriosa (hybrids?). I now have the job of transplanting the gloriosa to give them more room to grow!"

your test is great.........natural selection. Now you can market them as 'Kingston Hardy'. PS, I live in rabbit city too......I hear you with them mowing down plants. 😈

Did I post the method I used? Some of the Yucca had just string to hold the leaves up, and others had some fabric to both hold the leaves up and ensure that the rabbits could not get at them. Both methods worked well for keeping the rabbits at bay, but I'm not sure if it helps much with hardiness!

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looks good Paul.......keep the update photos coming as those Yuccas should take off this season. Some are approaching blooming size??

I certainly hope so! I need to try my hand at hybridizing again!