Yucca End-of-2017 Miscellany

This article caps off this year of my yucca writings as follows:

1. Yucca's Two Same-Year Stalk Bloom Cycles (contrasting a soft-leaf yucca's two stalks that bloomed within months of each other—one in July, and one in the fall)
2. Yuccas as Succulents
3. Relationship Among Yuccas, Agaves, and Asparagus

Yucca's Two Same-Year Stalk Bloom Cycles

The video provides visual progression contrasts between the two stalks. The first stalk's cycle lasted 22 days, and the second cycle lasted 12 days. I placed side-by-side images of two days (first stalk) and one day (second stalk) of the cycles for most of the video. The progressive yellowing of the leaves in the second stalk (right side) becomes more evident day by day.

The video also includes some recent post-bloom images. The stalks are bare of blooms, the leaves seemingly lifeless and having surrendered their nutrients to the two cycles of blooms. The successive images show stalks no longer upright, apparently leaning to the side, then succumbing to gravity. In the December 8 images, snow lightly blankets the leaves.

Yuccas as Succulents From "Super Succulents for Your Garden"

Some of our favorite plants are succulents – hens and chicks, agave, yuccas, aloes and more. ... The highlight of these plants (yuccas) is a tall flower stalk covered in cream-colored blooms that can reach anywhere from a few feet up to 30 feet tall, depending on the species.

From "Soft Leaf Yucca: 21 Important Facts On The Attractive Succulent"

A sought-after succulent, the yucca, adds a very tropical feel and a distinct look to your garden.

Relationship Among Yuccas, Agaves, and Asparagus

From "What Is the Difference Between a Yucca and an Agave?"

Both yucca and agave plants belong to the family of Agavaceae. The Yucca plant derives from the genera subtype ''Yucca,'' featuring about 40 species, whereas the agave belongs to the genera subtype ''Agave,'' which features around 300 species.

From "Why agave stalks look a bit like asparagus spears"

There's a reason agave stalks look a bit like asparagus spears. The plants belong to the Asparagceae family.

From "FAMILY ASPARAGACEAE"

Agavoideae is a subfamily of monocot flowering plants in the family Asparagaceae, order Asparagales. It has previously been treated as a separate family, Agavaceae. The group includes many well-known desert and dry zone types such as the agave, yucca, and Joshua tree.

Soft-Leaf Yucca's Second Stalk (Recurvifolia)

This yucca originally sprouted a stalk that I took daily pictures of for 22 days ("22-Day Cycle of Soft-Leaf Yucca (Recurvifolia)", YouTube video). This article is about its second stalk. The blooming and decline cycle lasted about half as long as the first stalk's, which I will contrast (mostly with video) in the next article.

I spotted bugs for half the days—September 30, October 1 through 4, and October 6. Some might be on more than one day's picture. Most look to be leaf-footed bugs, and an occasional spider.

Before I prepared the images I made for this article's video, I thought the yucca might be a weeping yucca:

"Yucca, Weeping
Yucca, Soft Leaf
Yucca recurvifolia"

Weeping Yucca begins as a uniform rosette shrub, growing upward on a single trunk reaching heights of five to six feet before falling over its own weight. New trunks will sprout where the main trunk makes contact with the ground, making it a multi-trunk shrub. … The flower stalk can grow up to five feet above the foliage, displaying a large cluster of white to pale yellow bell-shaped flowers in the early spring that last into the summer.

The description looked good regarding height, multiple stalks, and flower shapes. However, blooming occurred only in July, then again for a very short time in the fall. I also noticed Mortellaro Nursery's image shows the blooms not quite resembling those of my images. Mortellaro's blooms look somewhat splayed, while many of my subject yucca's blooms resemble upside-down tulips.

My next yucca article, besides contrasting the yucca's first and second stalk, will also include some "leftover" succulent info.