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Our late son, Fred, happened to like the look of the Yucca plant and especially when the plant blooms so he planted two of them at Home Farm and now that it has been 8 years since Fred unexpectedly passed away the Yucca plants are still here and have replicated themselves until we now have about five or six of them.
The type he planted is called Yucca filamentosa, commonly known as Adam's needle and it is a medicinal plant that is native to North America and it seems to thrive in our Kentucky clay soil in zone 6.
Once they were planted I was surprised to learn that the Yucca plant is an herb and that there are 30 Yucca species. I also learned that these plants are pollinated by the Yucca moth who transfers the pollen from the stamens of one Yucca plant to the stigma of another. While doing that it lays an egg in the flower and then the moth larva eats some of the developing seeds.
Yucca is the state flower of New Mexico and dried Yucca ignites at the lowest temperature thus making it a desirable fire starting element.
Fred planted his Yuccas for ornamental purposes, but some gardeners plant them because of their edible parts which include its seeds, fruits, flowers, flowering stem and mainly the roots.
I have never tried to eat any of these parts of this plant being satisfied to just have a reminder of Fred. However, one will find information about this plant in a good health food store and they will usually tell you that many people use Yucca roots for arthritis.
Some say that in Western herbal treatments the Yucca root at one time was used for the treatments of digestive disorders, diabetes and arthritis.
Regardless, it is a grand ornamental perennial plant that will give you some good accents in your landscaping scheme as it grows two to three feet high and two to three feet wide. The shrub forms a mound of stiff, sword-shaped leaves. Large cluster of white flowers bloom from on a 4 foot stalk in summer. It will grow in zones 5 to 10 and does well in loam, sandy or clay soil. It grows in wet or dry seasons and like partial to full sun and the sword shaped leaves have sharp points on the end of them.
I know it is easy to transplant as Fred found the ones he planted on a vacant lot he owned. I like them because they are maintenance free and can be mulched with sand or stones.
The only thing I do to them is to remove flower stalk after blooming and though I have never done it Yucca can be cut off at ground level.
“Tread the Earth Lightly” and in the meantime… May your day be filled with…Peace, Light and Love,
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Author Bio Box: Arlene Wright Correll
 For more gardening or cooking information click http://www.learn-america.com/
To see Arlene’s Gardens and to read her gardening diaries and to take a walk through her pictorial garden or click on Arlene’s Books where you can download or buy her gardening & cook books, including her new book, “The ABC’s of Wine and Beer Making”. Many of her articles written for Greenthumbarticles have paintings she has created of the subject and they can be seen at her “How to Do It” site. Remember to check out her artwork, especially of her fruits and vegetables. Many of her paintings are sold internationally and many of her works of art have been reproduced on note cards, post cards and other functional items and you can get Giclee prints of her artwork starting as low as $11.89 Arlene says, “All my royalties from the sale of my books, art, etc. go to the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and I thank you for visiting my sites.”
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