The Surprises of Yuccas, Just Not This One, Yucca Rostrata 0580
There are several surprises about Yuccas, at least to me. Surprise #1: Yuccas are a type of flowering succulent not actually a cactus, but often called a cactus. Surprise #2: Some yuccas bloom only at night because, surprise 2.5, they are pollinated by a particular moth, the yucca moths, all of which are nocturnal. Surprise #3: After blooming, which may be only once in a lifetime, some yuccas just up and die. That is the life cycle of some yuccas.
As you can see here, this yucca is none of the above. I was lucky to see five Yuccas - you know, after two or three times, the word "yucca' loses all meaning - come into bloom and remain so six weeks later. This one is about 30 feet tall. (Most yuccas live five or more years: only one reference to how long yuccas live came up with this fantastic fact: One existing Mojave yucca is at least 12,000 years old.) The one in the photo is of an unknown age (but at least 50 years) and the yucca at the end of my driveway, also in bloom, was planted in 1974 and is now a whopping 12 feet tall. It has a hole in the trunk which gets higher every year, and that has been the nest for oak titmice twice, and the Chestnut-backed chickadee once, in March of this year!
P.S. The flowers are always white.
The Surprises of Yuccas, Just Not This One, Yucca Rostrata 0580
There are several surprises about Yuccas, at least to me. Surprise #1: Yuccas are a type of flowering succulent not actually a cactus, but often called a cactus. Surprise #2: Some yuccas bloom only at night because, surprise 2.5, they are pollinated by a particular moth, the yucca moths, all of which are nocturnal. Surprise #3: After blooming, which may be only once in a lifetime, some yuccas just up and die. That is the life cycle of some yuccas.
As you can see here, this yucca is none of the above. I was lucky to see five Yuccas - you know, after two or three times, the word "yucca' loses all meaning - come into bloom and remain so six weeks later. This one is about 30 feet tall. (Most yuccas live five or more years: only one reference to how long yuccas live came up with this fantastic fact: One existing Mojave yucca is at least 12,000 years old.) The one in the photo is of an unknown age (but at least 50 years) and the yucca at the end of my driveway, also in bloom, was planted in 1974 and is now a whopping 12 feet tall. It has a hole in the trunk which gets higher every year, and that has been the nest for oak titmice twice, and the Chestnut-backed chickadee once, in March of this year!
P.S. The flowers are always white.