Trunking yuccas in zone 5b

cuja1 · Post by **cuja1** » Fri Aug 24, 2012 7:45 am

Are there any trunking yuccas that would survive a zone 5b unprotected east of the Mississippi?

Paul Ont · Post by **Paul Ont** » Fri Aug 24, 2012 10:52 am

A short list that varies depending on your definition of 'hardy' and trunking:

Hardy (no protection):
Yucca elata (some forms)
Yucca glauca (and var's)

Hardy (moisture protection):
Yucca elata
Yucca brevifolia
Yucca rostrata
Yucca thompsoniana

Others?

andym · Post by **andym** » Fri Aug 24, 2012 1:20 pm

Can't speak for States side but Yucca Linearifolia performed better than Rostrata over here in the UK some plants taking -18C/ 0F without damage unprotected. An amazing plant and by far the most sought after here.They do have to be well rooted though.

cuja1 · Post by **cuja1** » Fri Aug 24, 2012 6:23 pm

Thank you. I have a yucca rostrata. I was thinking about just putting a plastic bag over it in the winter and maybe poking some holes in the side of the bag. Does anyone think this would work or would placing a bag over it kill it?

DesertZone · Post by **DesertZone** » Fri Aug 24, 2012 7:17 pm

Be careful, some plastic bags are harmful to plants. I only use window cover plastic. It comes in rolls for winter sealing of windows.

Never use garbage bags, I have killed many plants before I knew this.

cuja1 · Post by **cuja1** » Fri Aug 24, 2012 8:08 pm

Woa! Thanks for telling me that! I've been nurturing this tiny rostrata for over 2 years now!

lucky1 · Post by **lucky1** » Sat Aug 25, 2012 9:46 am

Hi cuja1, welcome aboard Palms North!

Would love to see a photo of your Y.rostrata.
Any palms?

Blows me away that you're a 5b that far south of ... well.... Canada

Look forward to seeing how you protect it for winter.

Oh...did I say the "w" word already?

(will put $1 in the curse jar).

Barb

seedscanada · Post by **seedscanada** » Sat Aug 25, 2012 9:45 pm

Rostrata in 5b? I am having a terrible time here with my rostrata in 7a. Significant dieback each year, even though well planted, sized and sited. I wish you and your tiny rostrata luck in 5b. Don't leave it out there with only a bag over it.

MCKATELYN · Post by **MCKATELYN** » Sat Aug 25, 2012 10:15 pm

I have to agree with that last post and I do have some experience with that. I live in a very solid zone 5. I planted a small rostrata from plant delight. It was planted in a very good microclimate up against south side of my house protected by an overhang. What happened was it stayed a permanent juvenile no bigger that the day I planted it. It lived for about 8 years but would completely die back to the ground every year than regrow to a little 6 inch tall plant in summer. It finally died 2 years ago. Maybe some straines or naturally accruing hybrids (with thompsonis perhaps) are hardier. They are also supposed to be a little more cold tolerant as larger plant. I think the main difference in a eastern zone 5 and western zone 5 (other than more moisture) is we may both hit -20, but we have a more constant cold. I suspect that's what will do them in. Maybe one of those min pop up greenhouses will do the trick because the temps will warm up quite a bit while the sun is shining so they will get a temporary break in the cold.

lucky1 · Post by **lucky1** » Sun Aug 26, 2012 11:52 am

McKatelyn, agree with you 100%.
I also bought Y.rostrata sapphire skies from Plant Delights nursery and have them in a good south area under the overhang.
But they do need considerable winter protection.

Here are 3 of mine between the two in-progress winter protection for Washies.
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/southslope/6308802643/" title="DSC05069 by edible_plum, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6115/6308 ... 83a79b.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="DSC05069"></a>

The 3 y.rostrata initially had C-9 Christmas lights coiled at their base covered by a large sheet of clear plastic.
Then as it got colder, I inverted uninsulated garbage cans over the y.rostrata, with quite a bit of air place between that and the large sheet of clear plastic.
Lots of leaf-filled bags around each to keep the soil from getting too cold.

They made it but I was concerned they needed light in winter.
Very little damage by spring, so I was happy.

On mild days, yucca protection was opened up.

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/southslope/6792076099/" title="DSC05350 by edible_plum, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7005/6792 ... 2145ff.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="DSC05350"></a>

And thankfully the "protection mess" cannot be seen from the road

Found the photo when I first received them from Plant Delights 4 years ago.
Cost a fortune with the phytosanitary cert, etc.

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/southslope/2636882322/" title="DSC01429 by edible_plum, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3053/2636 ... 882b06.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="DSC01429"></a>

Barb

DesertZone · Post by **DesertZone** » Sun Aug 26, 2012 1:14 pm

Build a mound with good draining soil, use a small green house, make sure the air stays fresh inside, leave the zipper down a bit or open it on warm days, and I would bet it will live through a winter. On very cold days cover the green house with an old blanket.

Here is a zone 5b winter pic. I had many uncovered yuccas that winter, and still do.

andym · Post by **andym** » Sun Aug 26, 2012 5:12 pm

MCKATELYN wrote:I have to agree with that last post and I do have some experience with that. I live in a very solid zone 5. I planted a small rostrata from plant delight. It was planted in a very good microclimate up against south side of my house protected by an overhang. What happened was it stayed a permanent juvenile no bigger that the day I planted it. It lived for about 8 years but would completely die back to the ground every year than regrow to a little 6 inch tall plant in summer. It finally died 2 years ago. Maybe some straines or naturally accruing hybrids (with thompsonis perhaps) are hardier. They are also supposed to be a little more cold tolerant as larger plant. I think the main difference in a eastern zone 5 and western zone 5 (other than more moisture) is we may both hit -20, but we have a more constant cold. I suspect that's what will do them in. Maybe one of those min pop up greenhouses will do the trick because the temps will warm up quite a bit while the sun is shining so they will get a temporary break in the cold.

A good observation there MCKATELYN. Rostrata is generally quoted as being hardy to -15C in its own habitat where temperatures can recover to above freezing but in cold dank Northern Europe and the UK the sun can be too weak. Last Winter's Siberian high caused havoc in Europe where many places remained below freezing for a long period of time. Luckily the UK escaped the worst. Without temperature recovery the freeze will penetrate further into the plant and kill off sap flow. The perma freeze in 2010 killed many Cordylines, Dicksonias and palms which had previously been use to freezes followed by temperature recovery

cuja1 · Post by **cuja1** » Sun Aug 26, 2012 10:13 pm

That's not what I expected from yucca rostratas. There's so much talk about them being hardy to zone 5b. They have pictures of them in New York. Mine's real small right now, my plan for this winter was to place a clear storage tub over it with lots of air holes drilled into it.

I'll try to get some pics soon!

cuja1 · Post by **cuja1** » Sun Aug 26, 2012 10:21 pm

Thanks for the welcoming Barb! I'm glad I found this site! I'm on Gardenweb but this seems to speak more to my obsession with exotic plants that may stand a chance where I live.

I was equally amazed that anywhere in Canada is warmer than here. That's one of the sucky things about living in the Midwest. Those darned Alberta clippers come down and make our temperatures plunge (no offense intended to Alberta)

Anyone know a good place to get zone 5b hardy yucca elata?

DesertZone · Post by **DesertZone** » Mon Aug 27, 2012 6:27 am

cuja1 wrote:That's not what I expected from yucca rostratas. There's so much talk about them being hardy to zone 5b. They have pictures of them in New York. Mine's real small right now, my plan for this winter was to place a clear storage tub over it with lots of air holes drilled into it.

I'll try to get some pics soon!

I think that will work. Drill just enough for air movement, don't wont the heat to excape.

They are hardy to a zone 5b, but that depends how and where they are planted, and how big they are, and possibly where they seed came from.

I have had small ones planted without cover in the pic above and they lived, still have them.

cuja1 · Post by **cuja1** » Mon Aug 27, 2012 7:04 am

DesertZone, where you live do you have winters where the temperature stays below freezing for possibly a whole month or at least a few weeks? This seems to be a deciding factor on many sub-tropical plants.

DesertZone · Post by **DesertZone** » Mon Aug 27, 2012 11:43 am

cuja1 wrote:DesertZone, where you live do you have winters where the temperature stays below freezing for possibly a whole month or at least a few weeks? This seems to be a deciding factor on many sub-tropical plants.

I live in Shoshone Idaho (south central Idaho)

Cold is a deciding factor, but wet cold is the killer!

If you can keep the roots dry and the crown dry and the plant is not stuck in weather below 32f for long periods, it should live. It can get below -0F where these plants come from, but it is dry in the winter and warms in the day.

Here is my weather stats.
http://www.bestplaces.net/climate/city/idaho/shoshone

This one is better
http://www.usclimatedata.com/climate.ph ... n=USID0234

cuja1 · Post by **cuja1** » Mon Aug 27, 2012 9:47 pm

Cold is a deciding factor, but wet cold is the killer! If you can keep the roots dry and the crown dry and the plant is not stuck in weather below 32f for long periods, it should live. It can get below -0F where these plants come from, but it is dry in the winter and warms in the day.

I noticed your average high is 33 F. Thats the same as ours here. You mentioned warm days though. 2 winters ago in January I think it only got above 32 here maybe 2 days the whole month. Have you seen temps like that?

MCKATELYN · Post by **MCKATELYN** » Tue Aug 28, 2012 10:08 am

Yes, that does make a big difference if it gets above freezing for the yuccas(and many other plants). I'm in the same situation where we could go through the whole month of January and hardy even see 32degrees F the whole month. That's why those little pop up or umbrella greenhouses are perfect. Then every single day will get above freezing in the winter when it's sunny.

igor.glukhovtsev · Post by **igor.glukhovtsev** » Tue Aug 28, 2012 10:57 am

Air Temperature

Month Abs. min Average min Average Average max Abs max
January -30.1 (1969) -8.4 -4.7 0.7 18.2 (2002)
February -37.7 (1951) -6.9 -3.0 2.2 19.0 (1979)
March -24.8 (1920) -1.1 3.4 8.7 28.0 (2000)
April -10.9 (2003) 5.9 11.5 17.3 33.2 (1946)
May - 7.0 (1931) 11.0 16.6 24.2 35.1 (1932)
June 2.0 (1927) 15.8 21.6 27.5 39.3 (1977)
July 7.3 (1926) 18.0 23.8 30.0 43.4 (1983)
August 4.7 (1978) 16.9 23.0 29.4 40.5 (1944)
September -3.0 (1969) 11.5 17.6 24.2 38.1 (1998)
October -11.9 (1987) 4.6 9.9 16.3 31.1 (1985)
November -34.1 (1952) -1.3 2.7 8.2 25.4 (1979)
December -31.8 (1952) -6.4 -2.8 2.3 19.2 (1989)
год -37.7 (1951) 5.0 10.0 15.8 43.4 (1983)

DesertZone · Post by **DesertZone** » Tue Aug 28, 2012 4:55 pm

igor.glukhovtsev wrote:Air Temperature

Month Abs. min Average min Average Average max Abs max
January -30.1 (1969) -8.4 -4.7 0.7 18.2 (2002)
February -37.7 (1951) -6.9 -3.0 2.2 19.0 (1979)
March -24.8 (1920) -1.1 3.4 8.7 28.0 (2000)
April -10.9 (2003) 5.9 11.5 17.3 33.2 (1946)
May - 7.0 (1931) 11.0 16.6 24.2 35.1 (1932)
June 2.0 (1927) 15.8 21.6 27.5 39.3 (1977)
July 7.3 (1926) 18.0 23.8 30.0 43.4 (1983)
August 4.7 (1978) 16.9 23.0 29.4 40.5 (1944)
September -3.0 (1969) 11.5 17.6 24.2 38.1 (1998)
October -11.9 (1987) 4.6 9.9 16.3 31.1 (1985)
November -34.1 (1952) -1.3 2.7 8.2 25.4 (1979)
December -31.8 (1952) -6.4 -2.8 2.3 19.2 (1989)
год -37.7 (1951) 5.0 10.0 15.8 43.4 (1983)

-37 WOW ...that is cold! That's like -34F!!! I hope you never see cold like again.

DesertZone · Post by **DesertZone** » Tue Aug 28, 2012 5:02 pm

[quote="cuja1I noticed your average high is 33 F. Thats the same as ours here. You mentioned warm days though. 2 winters ago in January I think it only got above 32 here maybe 2 days the whole month. Have you seen temps like that?[/quote]

It can be socked in here for days and days in Jan/ feb and you will never see the sun. I almost have dought we get above freezing in most of Jan.

I hate winter!

DesertZone · Post by **DesertZone** » Tue Aug 28, 2012 5:03 pm

MCKATELYN wrote:Yes, that does make a big difference if it gets above freezing for the yuccas(and many other plants). I'm in the same situation where we could go through the whole month of January and hardy even see 32degrees F the whole month. That's why those little pop up or umbrella greenhouses are perfect. Then every single day will get above freezing in the winter when it's sunny.

I always wanted to try them, keep us posted over the winter.

MCKATELYN · Post by **MCKATELYN** » Tue Aug 28, 2012 9:43 pm

I haven't used them for yuccas but have used them for my needle palm. They work great. It takes about 10 or 15 minutes to set up. Just pop them open and through some woodchips mulch on inside and outside greenhouse and your set for winter

cuja1 · Post by **cuja1** » Tue Aug 28, 2012 10:09 pm

Thanks Aaron. I was trying to get a feel for if our winters are similar. Sounds like they are. With the exception of precip maybe. I'm with you I hate winter too. Last winter was awesome though. My crepe myrtle didn't even die-back. You don't see that till you get to zone 6b.

hardyjim · Post by **hardyjim** » Wed Aug 29, 2012 7:13 am

You are about 200 miles from me by car and we probably have the most similar climate.

I have Y.Aloifolia,Y.Rostrata,Y.Gloriosa,Y.Aloifolia(variegated)planted-and a few others(in pots) from people on this board.

We also see the bash guard on my mountain bike(-:

The Yucca in the clay pot is from Kory in Minnesota and the other 2 bigger ones are some of Tim's(in Mass)big momma plants.

Heres the cactus garden,I cover it with a "hoop-house" and heat when it get below 10F or so....

depending on how warm/sunny the days have been.etc-the cactus garden is 8'x8'

DesertZone · Post by **DesertZone** » Wed Aug 29, 2012 11:39 am

That looks so nice Jim.

cuja1 · Post by **cuja1** » Wed Aug 29, 2012 11:46 am

I love your cactus garden Jim! Desert plants look so awesome when combined with different shapes and sizes. I just hope someday I can get my agaves as big as the ones you have.

hardyjim · Post by **hardyjim** » Thu Aug 30, 2012 9:00 am

Thanks Aaron!

The Agave always surprise me with their fast growth,some are on their 10-12 leaves this year.

The A.Neomexicana is pretty dang slow though.

hardyjim · Post by **hardyjim** » Sun Sep 02, 2012 10:19 am

I believe Denver is in z5 and they do have trunking yuccas there.

http://www.gardentourist.org/Denver_Bot ... rdens.html

lucky1 · Post by **lucky1** » Sun Sep 02, 2012 12:18 pm

Gosh that's a fabulous BG!!!
Such a lovely layout/design, residents must be so proud of that.

It still ticks me off that I live in a 10,000 people city, and none of those 10,000 people have ANY imagination/creativity for a BG.
Never even heard it mentioned among the politicos.

Folks here would probably fill one with stuffed cattle

Barb

cuja1 · Post by **cuja1** » Sun Sep 02, 2012 10:22 pm

One thing I noticed about Denver though is that they get z5 lows but their temperatures rebound as if they were in a zone 6b. In other words they don't spend many consecutive days with highs below freezing.

On another note, I was at a nursery the other day asking what kind of yuccas they can order and one of the ones was yucca rostrata. I asked them if it was meant for indoors and they said that their supplier is from Breese Illinois near St. Louis and that they generally sell perennials. In addition to that there are so many websites that say yucca rostrata works in a zone 5b including plant delights which I assume is pretty good at giving accurate information on hardiness. I'm I just wishfull thinking or is it possible these things have been successfully grown in a Midwestern zone 5b without protection?

I guess it could easily be tested but I'm not ready to risk it just yet. Maybe when my second one gets a little bigger.

DesertZone · Post by **DesertZone** » Mon Sep 03, 2012 10:22 am

cuja1 wrote: I'm I just wishfull thinking or is it possible these things have been successfully grown in a Midwestern zone 5b without protection?

I guess it could easily be tested but I'm not ready to risk it just yet. Maybe when my second one gets a little bigger.

Only one way to tell, buy some seed and plant a few.

I had a supplier that sold a 100 seed for like $3, but I have not bought from them for awhile. Very easy to start from seed. If a seedling makes it then a 5gal plant should.

igor.glukhovtsev · Post by **igor.glukhovtsev** » Mon Sep 03, 2012 10:28 pm

DesertZone wrote: If a seedling makes it then a 5gal plant should.

What do you mean, Aaron... I have hundreds of them... No chance for surviving in small pots? Last winter I was overwintering 5 "Sapphire Sky" in 3.5" pots having no troubles. Of course they were frost free. Please make your point clearer. Thanks....

DesertZone · Post by **DesertZone** » Tue Sep 04, 2012 8:47 am

igor.glukhovtsev wrote:
DesertZone wrote: If a seedling makes it then a 5gal plant should.
What do you mean, Aaron... I have hundreds of them... No chance for surviving in small pots? Last winter I was overwintering 5 "Sapphire Sky" in 3.5" pots having no troubles. Of course they were frost free. Please make your point clearer. Thanks....

Sure, What I mean is plant some younger less expensive yuccas and plant them outside for a coldhardy winter test. If they make it through the winter, then a bigger plant should.
Who wants to plant a big expensive plant just to find it dies over the winter?

igor.glukhovtsev · Post by **igor.glukhovtsev** » Tue Sep 04, 2012 8:59 am

OK, I've got it... Thanks for English to English interpretation!

hardyjim · Post by **hardyjim** » Tue Sep 04, 2012 9:15 am

igor.glukhovtsev wrote:OK, I've got it... Thanks for English to English interpretation!

igor.glukhovtsev · Post by **igor.glukhovtsev** » Tue Sep 04, 2012 9:35 am

hardyjim wrote:

Right (Austin Powers ...)...!

I need more intensive English chatting. Except of talking you, guys, have no chance practicing language. So please forgive me if any silly questions would have been asking.

hardyjim · Post by **hardyjim** » Tue Sep 04, 2012 2:43 pm

No worries-I can barely speak English anyway.

DesertZone · Post by **DesertZone** » Mon Oct 08, 2012 1:17 pm

Here is some nice zone 5b trunking yuccas!
http://www.westtexasplants.com/