Monday, March 18, 2024

Yucca stripping for pleasure and profit

I stripped my Yucca yesterday.  It's a big Yucca gloriosa 'Variegata' that I've grown for nearly twenty five years.  Normally, when they flower, the old growing point splits into two or more branches which then grow on the produce the next set of flower spikes.  They also sucker from the rootstock and the end result can be a dense thicket of - admittedly attractive - yellow edged rosettes.  In a small garden that way nightmares lie.

So every flowering I've ruthlessly eliminated the suckers and the end result has been a multi branched small tree that currently stands about 9ft / 2.70m tall.

Here's how it looked on Sunday morning:


As the apical rosettes grow the older leaves die off, leaving an untidy mess.  In theory they're naturally shed by the plant.  That might be true in hotter climates but here in damp cool Plymouth they cling on.  Which brings me to the stripping.

It's pretty simple really.  All you need is stout gloves and a sharp knife.  Oh, and eye protection.  The spikes on the end of the leaves are sharp.  Most of the oldest leaves come cleanly away from the branches with a sharp tug.  For the newer ones you may need to cut them away close to the trunks.  With a specimen like mine you'll also need to delve between the branches to get right into the heart of the plant. Hence the gloves and eye protection.  But the end result is very satisfying.


Though it does leave a lot of waste.  Too tough to compost easily and too spongy to shred at home it's now in the garden waste bin, ready for April's collection.


As well as opening up the branching structure that makes such it an enticing plant  it also lightens the load on the branches.  When (not if) the south-westerly gales blow through the plant Yucca is far more secure against windrock.

Wednesday, March 13, 2024

RIP Abutilon 'Waltz'


You will be sadly missed.  

Occupying a sunny corner of my south facing rear garden this lax, half hardy wall shrub was rarely out of flower during the warmer months and even managed the odd bloom during the winter.  


Sadly, the weight of flower and foliage proved too much for the supporting structure and a winter gale tore it out and I sadly had to dispose of the corpse.


It lasted over ten years and I've certainly had my money's worth but nothing ever stays the same in any garden,  Ah well, the hard part now wil be to find a suitable replacement.  Perhaps a passion flower or even the orange flowered sibling Abutilon 'Tango'.

Sunday, March 10, 2024

Musa basjoo - the 'hardy' banana

I'm seeing new growth on my bananas.  New leaves are emerging.  This is the 'hardy' banana, Musa basjoo, from the foothills of the Himalayas.  I grow it unprotected in my Plymouth garden, accepting that, if we have a really bad winter, I'll lose the tall pseudostems to ground level.  Fortunately, we haven't had one of those for a few years and the pseudostems have grown tall.  Tall enough that, perhaps, one or more may even flower - and then die.  They leave offsets - but these take time to grow from the rootstock.  So, hopefully they won't all flower at once...

...and continue to provide these sort of displays in my small rear garden.