0©8 
September 5, 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
Ruralisms 
Yuccas in the Grass. —The common 
Adam’s needle or bear grass of the 
Southeastern States, Yucca filamentosa, 
is one of the most striking and easily 
grown of hardy ornamental plants. It 
thrives in sunny well-drained situations, 
no matter how dry and sterile the soil 
nay be, but also well responds to more 
fertile conditions. In lawn or door- 
yard it is always an attraction, whether 
grown as single specimens or massed in 
groups; but is probably most effective 
when established in grass and viewed 
against a background of shrubs or 
trees. Fig. 322 shows a scattering 
group of 15 plants naturalized in the 
Rural Grounds on a particularly hungry 
slope where the top soil had been in the 
past about all washed away. No cul¬ 
ture is given except the cutting out of 
weeds and coarse grass. They have 
been established eight years and make 
quite a brave show of bloom that is 
particularly appreciated in subdued 
light. Plants many times as large as 
the illustrated ones can be grown in 
good soil in less time, but the special 
charm of such groupings is their adapt¬ 
ability to barren or otherwise difficult 
situations. The massive flower spikes, 
four feet or more in height, rise from 
the broad, thread-margined foliage and 
endure in good condition for many 
days. They are much used in season 
for florists’ decorations. The individual 
blooms arc large, creamy white and fol¬ 
lowed by conspicuous capsules or pods 
containing numerous black seeds, from 
which an indefinite number of young 
plants may be grown. The clumps may 
lines are somehow associated with tropi¬ 
cal warmth and as a Winter evergreen 
it is not a success. 
Other Hardy Species. —Yucca fiaccida 
is so near like Filamentosa that it is 
usually cultivated as that species, but 
the leaves arc thinner, more drooping 
in outline and seldom spiny at the 
points. The flower panicle is smaller 
and the hlooms less pure in coloring. 
It is native to the same regions and is 
particularly useful on account of its un¬ 
armed foliage. 
Y. baccata is an Arizona species sel¬ 
dom cultivated, but is known to be 
hardy north of St. Louis. The leaves 
are yellow-green and rise from a creep¬ 
ing rootstock. The pale green flowers 
and the fruits are both quite large. 
Y. cloriosa is the oldest species in 
garden cultivation, and is quite variable, 
sometimes stemless and occasionally 
with a palm-like trunk six to 10 feet 
high. Though native to the Carolina 
coast region it is fairly hardy as far 
north as Philadelphia, where many fine 
specimens are grown. It has narrow, 
stiff leaves, blue-green in color, some¬ 
times margined with brown, with quite 
sharp points. The flower panicle is most 
imposing in size, but is only produced 
at intervals of several years. The 
blooms are very showy when pure 
white, but arc at times tinged with 
brown or red. 
Y. trecueeana is a fine Texan spe¬ 
cies often growing into a low tree, with 
thick stiff, blue green leaves. It with¬ 
stands several degrees of frost, and is 
handsome, though rather shy in bloom. 
Possibly the finest of North American 
species in bloom is Yucca Vvhipplei, 
YUCCAS IN TIIE GRASS. Fig. 322. 
also be readily propagated by 
divisions, which is best done as growth 
starts in Spring. The only objection 
to this Yucca is the sharp points at the 
ends of the leaves, which may occasion¬ 
ally wound young children. The spiny 
points are much emphasized in Yucca 
glauca, generally catalogued as Y. 
angustifolia, native to the Rocky 
Mountain region. This is a very hardy 
but slow growing species, with narrow, 
stiff white-margined leaves ending in 
a keen rigid point that is sure to pierce 
the unwary. This Rocky Mountain 
Yucca is far more deserving the name 
of Adam’s needle than the broader and 
weaker leaved Y. filamentosa, but the 
thread-like filaments along the margins 
are not so well marked. Glauca forms 
in time large branching clumps of nar¬ 
row whitish foliage, but the bloom 
spikes are smaller and the flowers less 
conspicuous, being of a greenish shade. 
Hybrids between the two species, raised 
in Italy, are said to vary greatly and 
to be, in the main, fine decorative 
plants. Specimens of Glauca lb years 
old, on the Rural Grounds, have never 
bloomed, and have made little growth, 
compared with Filamentosa, under the 
same conditions. There is a fine white- 
striped and, margined variety of Fila¬ 
mentosa, occasionally offered by dealers, 
but its slow propagation makes it al¬ 
ways scarce. It is considerably less 
hardy and vigorous than the type, but 
is really one of the most elegant of 
variegated foliage plants, exceeding in 
beauty the white-marked Agaves and 
jiineapplcs. In rich sandy soil, with a 
trifle of Winter protection to shelter 
the handsome foliage from the severest 
frosts, it thrives very well. Although 
hardy enough to stand the sharpest 
freezes it must be admitted that the 
typical green-foliaged Y. filamentosa 
has a most chilly look when partially 
snow-eovered. the flowing foliage 
very abundant in southern California. 
It has a tall spike rising from sharp- 
pointed leaves, and very white and 
numerous blooms, but cannot endure 
freezing weather. It is an extremely 
vigorous plant for warm climates, and 
may be quickly, grown to flowering 
size from seeds. 
P OLI.IN ATION OF YUCCAS. —Most of 
the Yuccas do not bear seed when 
grown away from their native localities, 
as the blooms are so constructed that 
pollination is not likely to take place 
without special insect or artificial aid, 
but Y. filamentosa and Y. fiaccida 
appear always to be accompanied by 
small white night-flying moths, that de¬ 
posit eggs in the opening flowers and 
in so doing convey pollen from the 
anthers of one flower to the stigma 
of another. The eggs soon hatch out 
little maggots or caterpillars that eat 
down into the tender ovaries, destroy¬ 
ing probably one-fourth of the seeds in 
the fruit or capsule during their growth, 
but leaving an ample supply to per¬ 
petuate the host plants. These moths 
come out of their cocoons just in time 
to pollinate Filamentosa and Fiaccida 
but are too late here in the East for Y. 
glauca and too early for Y. gloriosa, 
which is a late bloomer when it blooms 
at all. _ w. v. f. 
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D 
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