Trunking yucca hardiness...

[jfrye01@live.com]

I was walking across my community college campus here in good old El Dorado, Kansas today, when I made a pleasantly surprising discovery...behind our library building is a small garden with probably 5-6 trunking yuccas, the tallest being about 4 feet tall...now correct me if I'm wrong, but most trunking yucca aren't zone 6 hardy, are they? These little guys aren't protected at all, and still look very healthy. I'll try to grab some pictures between class tomorrow.

[stevethegator]

Most aren't but some are! There are trunking yuccas in zone 6 western areas like New Mexico and Utah. I've also seen some in 6b areas in the southern appalachians

[jfrye01@live.com]

Hmmm...learn something new every day!! I really like the yucca, there's tons of it used in landscaping around here, that's just the first time I've seen trunking yucca here...I wish people would grow S. minor instead, but unfortunately, most people are "closed minded" when it comes to palms, and don't really know (or care) for that matter that these palms could grow here and look better than yucca in some (nearly all) instances;)

[stevethegator]

I take back what I said, many if not most yucca are hardy to zone 6! Haha

A lot of the desert species are extremely hardy but will look bad in areas that get too much precip (I. e aren't deserts) so that may be why some people think yuccas aren't "hardy"

Yucca aloifolia is trunking up to 10' or more and is native to the eastern US, growing well in even the humid 'tropical' conditions of South Florida. It is hardy to 6a, and there are even variegated and purple forms available!

Yucca gloriosa is also trunking and zone 6 hardy.

[jfrye01@live.com]

Picture:

The leaning one on the far left has the most pronounced trunk, probably 3 feet. Can anyone identify this species?

Edited February 27, 2014 by jfrye01@live.com