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.

Century Plant Triplets--4th Week Higher and Branching Out

The pixstrip shows the agave triplets pic from March 18 and March 25. The newer pic shows the stalks starting to grow branches. Instead of resembling giant, continuous asparagus spears, the upper parts parts of the stalks now look like crosses between Christmas trees and candelabras.

These stalks grew up some more, about half the sign's height for the first plant and another full sign's height for the 2nd and 3rd plant. BTW, during the week, I took a metal tape measure and measured the sign's height and width. Yep, 24 inches each direction. So, another week of the plants growing another two feet—well, ok, the two plants to the right.

My thoughts of the plants for that day:

All three stalks gained just a little more height. The middle one did not reach the wires. All three started sprouting branches.

Index to my agave posts, from the time I first spotted the set of triplets in early March to mid-June, about 3 1/2 months.
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16

2025 Slide-show version of the triplets saga-"Revisiting Century Plant Triplets, Weekly Shots Over 16 Weeks" (video | article)

Related: Agave articles search results

Century Plant Triplets--2nd Week

The pixstrip shows the agave triplets pic from March 4 and two from March 11. Do a visual comparison of heights of the two pictures on the left. Although the stalks initially don't look much taller, they might have picked up half of the street sign height. Maybe some day I'll return to the area and measure the sign so I can guestimate how much the stalks grew from March 4 to March 11.

The picture on the right shows the March 11 image with additional skyward background for height reference. As my series continues, pictures will show sprouting progress, more than looking like giant asparagus shoots.

The following is an excerpt of thoughts I'd sent email out that day:

Took a couple of other pix today. (I took last week's about 8 AM 3/4.) I cropped one of them to just under the wires for a relative size the one I sent last week. I then thought that it might be interesting to crop the same pic but include the wires for height relative view. I'm hoping to take weekly pix until the conclusion of the plants, or until they get cut down, whichever occurs first.

Index to my agave posts, from the time I first spotted the set of triplets in early March to mid-June, about 3 1/2 months.
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16

2025 Slide-show version of the triplets saga-"Revisiting Century Plant Triplets, Weekly Shots Over 16 Weeks" (video | article)

Related: Agave articles search results