Rehabbing/Re-rooting A Mature Yucca 'Bright Star'

A Yucca that doesn't need rehab

The bloomed-out Agave marmorata stump is gone;  our former mow-blow guy got it out for us.  Took him 10 minutes.  Would have taken me all day. 
 Buh-bye!  Thanks for the memories. 
The white arrow indicates where the Agave stump was;  red arrow indicates the sole offset of the Agave.  The Yucca 'Bright Star' that needs rehabbing is in flower in the center of the photo:
 Looking back,  it appears I planted this 'Bright Star' back around 2010 or 2011.  Since then the original low, solitary rosette has flowered several times, branched, grown to about shoulder height, and become rather a mess.  In addition, the Agave marmorata flower dropped a whole lot of litter as well as nectar onto the Yucca, making it look even worse.  
Time for some rehab.  At first, it seemed the Yucca needed to be removed and discarded.  Because it eventually becomes a tall growing plant, placement right at the front edge of the slope was not appropriate.   Then I recalled Yucca rosettes can be re-rooted.  

Additionally, a stem growing in the ground can be cut low and will potentially produce new rosettes.  Since one of the branches is still in flower, I set to work cutting off a branch that wasn't.  
Arrow indicates cut: 

Leaves removed to expose a stem that can develop roots.  A bit of a surprise:  dried-out leaves were much harder to pull off than the ones still alive: 
What I thought was a single rosette turned out to be two.  
Actually, three.  There was a new rosette forming also.  I arranged a piece of scrap paper to show the new sprout. 
 Unfortunately the new sprout was too small to separate with rootable stem tissue.  That's okay. 

After a lot of leaf pulling and some hosing off, what remained were two clean rosettes with a good amount of stem ready to pot up in the hopes that they root.  
The original plant has several more stems to remove and clean up.  That must wait a few days, until the flowers are done. 


Today is the first official day of Autumn 2019.  Summer is OVER.  Autumn means it's gardening time again.  Hooray!

Comments

  1. You warned me once that these Yuccas start to lose their shape once they bloom. If/when my 'Bright Stars' ever bloom, I'll follow your advice on rehabbing them.

    Happy Autumn! Dare we hope that the weather forecasts showing a chance of rain this weekend could come true?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The latest forecast is 20%, so I'm not hoping. Cooler weather is enough for some joy-jumping at this point. I'll be able to finish off my Yucca project. Too hot today!

      Delete
  2. Wow, the substance of those Yucca florets! They really look like carved ivory.

    There's almost nothing as tough as dried-out yucca foliage. Will bookmark this instructive post for when I get around to renovating 'Color Guard'. Might not be until spring.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The substance is impressive. The flowers are edible. There are quite a few recipes out there.

      My saw came apart cutting the dried foliage. The bolt holding everything together flew off and I couldn't find it. Tough indeed.

      'Color Guard' seems better with a little winter. The ones in Austin were gorgeous, much more attractive than the ones here.

      Delete
  3. Happiness is getting into the garden to muck around. Those yucca starts look neat and ready to go now.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. "Happiness is getting into the garden to muck around"

      Agree 100%-- let's get out there and muck! :)

      Delete
  4. Incredible that these hard-to-find, slow-growing, expensive plants with the single perfect chartreuse rosette can get so overgrown and disheveled, but your slope seems to have the Midas touch with them. To have multiples for your garden is treasure indeed.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Always interested in your thoughts.

Any comments containing a link to a commercial site with the intent to promote that site will be deleted. Thank you for your understanding on this matter.