Native Plants

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Saturday - September 13, 2014

From: Custer, KY
Region: Mid-Atlantic
Topic: Pruning, Shrubs
Title: How to Care for a Yucca after Blooming
Answered by: Anne Van Nest

QUESTION:

We just moved into our home and there was an existing yucca plant in the yard and it had bloomed. There was some kind of vine growing in and around it. We tried to clean out the vine but I noticed a lot of roots growing around the bottom of the yucca plant. They are pretty large so I'm not sure if they are part of the yucca plant. I want to keep the yucca plant so do you have any answers or suggestions?

ANSWER:

Yucca are interesting in that the mother plant dies after it reaches maturity and flowers. But, most often the mother plant will send out several new offshoots before it dies. So carefully take a look at the base of your yucca to see if the mass of large roots might contain some new shoots that will grow into more yucca plants. If they aren't attached to the mother plant and don't look like new yucca shoots, then they are probably roots from the vine that has grown through the yucca. If this is the case, you will have to carefully loosen the soil around the yucca and pull the vine roots from the yucca.

From the Image Gallery

Adam's needle
Yucca filamentosa