Beschorneria Yuccoides
Beschorneria yuccoides is perhaps the ideal stemless spiky plant for high traffic areas.
It possess few of the annoying habits that are often associated with spiky plants, such as:
- Stabbing you.
- Dying after flowering.
- Rotting in winter.
- Slow growth
It can however look a little scruffy after winter. The lower leaves fade and shrivel with time but can be removed by a good Yank in the spring (in fact almost any nationality should be capable of this task)
Beschorneria is usually acquired as a single rosette and should not be extortionate in price. If you feel the shop is being a little greedy, look elsewhere as these plants are becoming increasingly common.
Cultivation requirements for Beschorneria yuccoides.
Full sun and a well drained, elevated position work well for this plant.
Supplemental feed and watering is unnecessary once established.
This plant is hardy in Zone 9.
As mentioned earlier this plant is usually sold as a single rosette. When planting your Beschorneria, remember that it will wish to spread in all directions. Try to give it an open space to allow it to spread uniformly. Where possible avoid planting under trees to allow the flower spikes full access and to prevent the plant collecting fallen leaves.
Flowering of Beschorneria yuccoides
Although this plant is a handsome fellow in its own right it produces some quite sci-fi flowering spikes. It does not necessarily flower every year and it may only produce one or several flower spikes depending on its mood.
Rumblings begin in early April and continue...
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Until in early June we have the situation at the top of the page.
Flower detail
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Beschorneria yuccoides seed pod
Although Beschorneria does manage to have 'relations' with bees, it rarely sets seed. Some seed pods do begin to ripen but wind and rain inevitably knock them off. Out of all the flowers produced on the above plant, only one seed pod made it to maturity.
To see what happened to that lowly seed pod and how to propagate this plant from off shoots click here: Beschorneria offshoots
Pests of Beschorneria yuccoides
Beschorneria yuccoideshas the annoying habit of providing both board and lodging to its main pest - the snail. The silver lining in this case is that the snails prefer the older leaves. As the snails rest deep within the plant, it is often hard to find them. The best course of action is to inspect your plant after a rainfall. The snails will be out cruising and you can pick them off at ease.
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