Hardiest Yucca?

[Okanagan desert-palms]

Aaron in your opinion what are your three hardiest trunking Yuccas.Also what are the low temps they have been exposed to. Do you have any seeds for sale of your Yuccas?
Thanks,
John

[Jay-Admin]

Hey John,

Have you seen the pics of the huge y. elatas just accross the border in Oriville? Here are some pics i have taken.

http://www.palmsnorth.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=105

I would think that y. elata is probably the hardiest trunking one.

Regards,
Jay

[desertdave]

I do not know much about yuccas but I would imagine the one pictured in my old thread "Yucca pic?" is prolly quite hardy. Aaron (DesertZone) seemed to think it was Y. rostrata or Y. thompsoniana (upon looking at some nursery pics I am leaning toward Y. thompsoniana). I have also heard Y. brevifolia is fairly hardy in dry climates.

[DesertZone]

It is so hard to tell. There is so many good ones out there.

I have seen my yucca brevifolias take -14F, the larger form burned more then the dwarf form did, but bolth survived. I think they are the hardiest of the trunking yuccas in my yard. They are not always hardy when they are young, but do better with age. I also see very good results from y. recurvifolia, and y. gloriosa. Y. elata is very hardy but will burn back to the ground in very cold weather when young but will grow back, as they get older they become very hardy.

There was others I recommended for different areas, but overall I think most of the common cold hardy trunking yuccas are showing good results There is some that are not doing as good as others like- y. torry and y. riggida and a couple of others.

Sorry I don't have any seeds off my trunking yuccas yet, but have seeds off my y. neomexicania, and yucca gluaca.

[Okanagan desert-palms]

Thanks guys for all the info.I spend most of my time researching cold hardy palms, that I neglect looking at Yuccas more.
John

[desertdave]

This thread has me thinking about something I have noticed. Would it be fair to say that yuccas, agaves, etc. are like desert palms, that these plants are also generally hardier in drier-winter regions than in wetter-winter regions?

[DesertZone]

I agree....they are just like desert palms, they are going to do better in drier winter weather. Y. Brevifolia is very hardy but in the east in might not fair very well, because the rain and heavy snow might rot out the spears of the plant.

Yucca recurvifolia does good because of its ability to handle winter wet, but I noticed yuccas from the east are more likely to rot off at the roots then have the spears pull. has anyone else seen this?