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THE YUCCAS AS HARDY ORNAMENTAL PLANTS. 



THE YUCCAS-AS HASDY ORNAMENTAL PLANTS. 



Thkrk are few plants so ornamental as several of 

 the Yuccas, and j'et we seldom see thejn employed in 

 any eonspifuous way, in any of our plea.'^ure grounds 

 or flower gardens. Here and there, perhaps, in the 

 gardens of our curious amateurs, one sees a solitary 

 plant, but beds, groups, and masses, never. Yet there 

 are no plants so altogether satisfactory in many re- 

 spects, as two or three species of Yucca that we can 

 name. 



The Yuccas are mostly southern plants — the name 

 Yu<:ca being a vernacular application in St. Domingo. 

 Some of the species, however, are natives of the Uni- 

 ted States — from Virginia to Florida, and far from 

 being tender, they are hardier than many really north- 

 ern plants. Yucca flaccida, angustifolia and JUa- 



THE ADAMS NEEDLE, OR YUCOA GLORIOSA. 



meiitosa, bear a temperature of 10 ° or 15 ° below 

 zero of Fahrenheit, and Y. gloriosa 6 ° below, with- 

 out being at all injured. 



As they grow with great facility in any rich, light 

 soil, and are easily propagated by division of the 

 roots, there is no reason why they should not be cul- 

 tivated in every flower garden. April, and the first 

 half of May, are the best season for transplanting the 

 roots. 



The Yuccas belong to the lilly tribe, in the natu- 

 ral system of botany, and the tall stem, (branched 

 like a tapering pyramid,) of superb liily-like flowers, 

 of a creamy white color, that each plant throws up 

 in mid-summer, forma one of the most remarkable 

 embellish meats of the flower garden or shrubbery. 



But a great merit of the Yuccas, over most herbace- 

 ous plants, is the constant beauty of the foliage, in 

 fact of the whole plant, all the year round. The 

 general appearance of the plant is not unlike that of 

 the Agaves, or Century Aloes, (to which they are al- 

 lied,) only the leaves are narrower — being only an 

 inch or two broad. The.se leaves retain their deep 

 green verdure summer and winter, and being system- 

 atically arranged on the plant, and handsome in 

 themselves, they are as strikingly ornamental among 

 the snows of winter, as in mid-summer. A lointer 

 garden, such as we have several times alluded to in 

 these pages, would, beside evergreen trees, be most 

 appropriately planted into beds or groups of Yuccas, 

 to cheat the season out of its dreariness. We shall 

 notice a few of the sorts most easily obtained at the 

 nurseries, and most suitable for the gar- 

 dens of the northern States. 



I. Yucca gloriosa, or Adam's JVeedle. — 

 This is the largest and most striking of the 

 hardy Yuccas. It is, in fact, an evergreen 

 shrub, growing two to five feet high, with 

 its woody stem or trunk clothed with leaves 

 almost to the ground. The end of each 

 leaf is terminated by a dark spine, which 

 has given rise to the popular name of "Ad- 

 am's Needle." The leaves are broad, stiff, 

 and dark green, and have much of the pic- 

 turesque effect of those of the Aloe. The 

 flower stalk is generally about four feet 

 high, branching out symmetrically on every 

 side, (see fig. from Jlrb. Brit.,) but in strong 

 plants is frequently much higher than a 

 man's head. The blossoms, which op6n in 

 July and August, are bell-shaped, pale 

 white within, marked by a pale purple 

 stripe on the outside of the petals. 



The Adams' Needle is a native of both 

 North and South America, being found 

 wild as far north as Virginia, and as far 

 south as Carthagena. Though not grow- 

 ing naturally, farther north than the form- 

 er State, it is perfectly hardy as far north 

 as Lake Erie — or wherever the peach ripens 

 regularly. About Washington, we have 

 noticed it in the fine pleasure grounds ol 

 Wm. Stone, Esq., growing most lu,xuriantly, 

 springing up and flowering along the sides 

 of the garden walks, with little or no care. 

 About New York it succeeds best in a 

 perfectly dry subsoil — a deep sandy loam. 

 Where it needs any protection, it is only that of a 

 few branches of evergreens to keep off the sun. 

 There is a variety of Y. gloriosa called superba — 

 rather rarely seen, even in our best collections, which 

 is still finer — being of taller and more free-like growth* 

 and bearing a greater profusion of pure white tiowersi 

 II. YdC(ia filamentosa, or Jidam's Thread. — 

 This variety differs mainly from the former, in havino 

 no spines at the ends of the leaves, but instead, the 

 foliage is irregularly serrated, and edged with long 

 threads, which hang down two or three inches long 

 The same popular notion which coupled the idea ol 

 Adam's N.eedle with the thorn at the end of the 

 leaves of Y. Gloriosa, has found a corresponding 

 thread on the leaves of this species. It is a native ol 



