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One of the most spectacular of the really hardy Yuccas. This one has been moved about here and there for thirty years or so, and everywhere it gets set down, it leaves behind enough
old rootstock to regenerate. Currently being swamped by brambles and trees, it will shortly be on the move again. It's strange because it is one of my favourite species, but it has never really settled into this garden. Trees and Shrubs online says: "Native of the coast region of eastern N. America, from S. Carolina to N.E. Florida, often on sand-dunes. It was cultivated by Gerard in his garden at Holborn late in the 16th century, and has long been a favourite in the gardens of south and western Britain. Even now, in the 20th century, gardens can show no more striking a feature than a group of plants in flower. It is closely allied to Y. recurvifolia, but easily distinguished by the straight, rigid leaves. It is not so common as that species, and although quite hardy in not being affected by frost, is apparently more subject to decay and injury by winter damp and snow. Also, as Parkinson put it, it flowers ‘now and then, but not every yeare’ and is inclined to develop its spikes so late in some seasons that the flowers fail to open. Gerard obtained his plant from Thomas Edwards, an apothecary of Exeter. Its original provenance is unknown, but the likeliest guess is that it came from Roanoke Island, which had been explored in the 1580s and was the site of the first but short-lived English settlement in what is now the United States. Gerard’s plant had not flowered by the time he published his Herball, but it did so later. It died when an attempt was made to move it to another garden after his death. But he had given a propagation to Robin, the French king’s gardener. Parkinson had a plant, and gives a good account of the species in his Paradisus." |
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| 17th December 2006 | ||
