Yukka outdoors?

Hi

There is a Yukka plant approx 8ft tall at my work that needs a new home. I would like to put it in the garden but suspect it may not survive. It is approx 4 years old and has lived in a conservatory in large pot previously. Any advice, could it possibly survive?

Thanks, mark

 

It sounds like yucca eliphantibes, it will survive out side but you will have to aclimatise it first, best bring it in for the next winter though then start again next May. I've a young one with only 4" of trunk it had none last year when I got it from Homebase, but its been in a pot all this time outside even through the winter and it's doing great. Have a cycas outside too been there for 3yrs and does better than the one in the house, all I do is through a bit of fleece over it if it's going to be frosty.

 

I have a yucca been outside for years, I keep hoping it will die as the spines are dangerous to the unsuspectin, but I have one of its babies about to flower and it looks splendid.

If its a varigated one it may be a bit iffy in the winter.

My Cycas that I rescued has also survived after being chucked onto the river bed and produved me four new - ur whatever they are, the one I bought though has done sweet FA for me, so you never can tell.

 

TO, are you a bit coastal, because I've never managed to get elephatipes to survive the winter outside, in a really protected spot maybe, but not out in full frost.
mcmac74, you could try it but be prepared to lose it.
Another option is cut it down and reroot the cut stems, thats if you need five or six new ones. :D

 

There's a Yucca Elephantipes in a pot outside a house on my road. Been there for a couple of years now. Will take -10 C once acclimatised believe it or not.

Used to be sold primarily as house plants. B&Q are now selling them as outdoor specimens.

You must step acclimatise it if it's been inside to date at a constant 20 C or so. I've been trialling a Dracaena(Dragon Tree) over 2 metres tall outside since March that started to outgrow my living room and is against a west facing shed by my patio. You can see it on my website but it is very protected from any cold winds by high fences, I understand these will take -5 or so if kept dry. I plan to overwinter this on my patio as a trial with protection. Similar in structure to a Yucca but more closely related to Agave, I should expect your Yucca though to have a good chance of survival but maybe too late this year.

 

Pete yes I live in-between the Dee and the Mersey not far from the see about 20mins drive, but my garden is south facing and well protected thats why my tropicals last all winter too, I've my own little micro climate, last year only had 2 frosts one in Nov and one in Feb! winters are very mild around here.

 

Also it's not the cold that kills the plants its the wet and the winters are'nt very wet either. Yuccas and other desert plants survive lower temps than us, the desert is freezing at night, also lots of other tropicals come from high in the himalayas which are colder than here too. As for my jungle plants they like damp shade so they get planted close together.

 

The one thing we have not seen in my part of the UK for a good few years is continuous frost.
Personally I never want to see it again, but if it does reappear one winter I think we will all be having a rethink about what is hardy and what is not.

 

You are quite right Pete. even in Yorkshire, at least by the coast, we only had literally 2 x 1 night frosts (and not heavy) last year. I had some cobra lilies and some golden ball myrtle out stratifying all last winter. Come May nothing had happened so I had to fridge them for a month. They then germinated, quite well but I lost about 6 weeks of their growing season. It is now October and my clematis jacmanii has just got it's first flower of the year. It should be cut back by now. I think I now believe in global warming. I no longer trust to just leaving seeds out all winter to cold stratify. Oh, and Ed (my dog) just went out and went mad. There was a frog in the garden. I closed my pond for re-development 2 years ago when I started on exotics.