Around The Yard

Discussion in 'Crops & Gardens' started by Beth Gallagher, Oct 11, 2020.

  1. Tony Page

    Tony Page Veteran Member
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    They're beautiful when in bloom, wish I had a penny for the amount of time I heard " it's a shame they only bloom once".
     
    #196
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  2. Beth Gallagher

    Beth Gallagher Supreme Member
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    I recently swapped out the Norfolk pine tree I had in a pot on the front porch for a yucca plant. The pine was getting tall enough to set off the Ring doorbell every time the wind blows so it had to go. I repotted the yucca and found the barbed tips on the fronds to be quite dangerous, so I snipped the tips off of every single leaf. I actually didn't know that the sap of some yucca plants can be toxic to humans. My husband got stuck in his wrist and the spot formed a little pustule similar to an ant bite.

    yucca.jpg

    I didn't want anyone getting impaled while trying to ring the doorbell. :p
     
    #197
  3. Don Alaska

    Don Alaska Supreme Member
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    When first married, we had a Norfolk Island Pine that we used as a Christmas tree. When we moved to Georgia from North Carolina, we had to rent a house for a few months until we found and closed on the house we were buying. The tree was too big to go through the doors of our rental house, so we had to leave it on the car port. We had an usual frost that was low enough to kill our tree. The house we bought had a yucca near the in-ground garbage depository, and it stuck me one time...so I kicked it. It got my toe with a thorn and it swelled enough to hobble me. When I recovered. I took shovel and an axe toe the d**n thing and tossed it in the trash. I wouldn't have another. My stories about the plants you have/had.
     
    #198
  4. Beth Gallagher

    Beth Gallagher Supreme Member
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    While I was repotting that yucca, I bent down and one spine struck the lens of my glasses. If I hadn't had them on I'd probably have blinded myself in that eye. That's when I decided to remove all those tips.
     
    #199
  5. Faye Fox

    Faye Fox Veteran Member
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    While yucca isn't a cactus, it is a desert succulent and those desert suckers do have an attitude regardless of genre. I had one but after a few pokes, one own my cheek, it was dug up and transported by shovel to the G can.
     
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  6. Mary Stetler

    Mary Stetler Veteran Member
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    They sell yucca root as a food at the grocery store here. I am sure I've tried it because I try everything. But I can't recall how it was. So not on my list of must haves.
    I also had a Norfolk pine as a Christmas tree. but got too big to move.
     
    #201
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  7. Tony Page

    Tony Page Veteran Member
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    When we 1st moved into this house We had woods next to the driveway in there 2 Yucca plants were growing. I Dug them out and transplanted them to my flower bed, They took over From a 12" plants they became 3 or 4'. I dug them out And thought I had seen the end of the Yucca, I probably didn't get it all out because Small Yucca plants started growing, Now I have 3 or 4 large Yucca where I had 2.
     
    #202
  8. Beth Gallagher

    Beth Gallagher Supreme Member
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    I was trying to figure out where to put this; I thought there was a "bird" thread but I must have been thinking of @Nancy Hart 's diary. :D Anyway, this is not my yard but my friend who lives in northern CA sent me these. She has a potted ficus plant on her porch and she noticed a tiny nest in it, so she put up a barrier to keep people off the porch and hasn't been able to water the ficus. She can see the nest from her window so she snapped these pictures of a HUMMINGBIRD nest!!! So exciting! Her ficus is dying but she doesn't care.

    IMG_5335.jpg

    IMG_5345.jpg

    She said there is only one tiny little egg in the nest. I can't wait to see the baby hummer!
     
    #203
  9. John Brunner

    John Brunner Senior Staff
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    Life in miniature. The migration of those tiny critters (and of monarch butterflies) defies belief.
     
    #204
  10. Kate Ellery

    Kate Ellery Supreme Member
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    I wouldn’t have a yucca in my garden @Beth Gallagher many planted then around here due to drought tolerance but now my have removed then due to the spikes in the end causing eye damage and wounds to arms ect.

    A friend walked past one in the street recently and altho she wears glasses she got stabbed in the eye by the needle end of the yucca she had to go to the hospital as it made her eye bleed
     
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  11. Ed Wilson

    Ed Wilson Veteran Member
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    Anyone have any experience with Trumpet Vines? The flower is supposed to be a favorite of hummingbirds.
     
    #206
  12. Beth Gallagher

    Beth Gallagher Supreme Member
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    I agree, Kate. That's why it's in a pot and not planted in the yard. :D I keep the tips snipped off so it won't hurt anyone.
     
    #207
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  13. Tony Page

    Tony Page Veteran Member
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    I had 2 of them, They got to be 8 to 10 feet tall were beautiful and did draw Hummingbirds.
    We took them down after many years of enjoyment because of underground runners taking over flower bed as far away as 40 feet.We couldn't keep up weeding them out of the flower beds.
     
    #208
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  14. Ed Wilson

    Ed Wilson Veteran Member
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    Uh Oh! I have a tomato patch about 10' away, but I'll be tilling the soil every spring so maybe I could avoid that problem.
     
    #209
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  15. Dwight Ward

    Dwight Ward Veteran Member
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    I built a big cage for my keets and put a yucca in it for them. They chew on the spiky ends and seem to like it. From what I'm hearing, though, should I remove it?

    Also, from my mixes of wildflowers I'm seeing some new ones. I have no idea what they're called and I'm not desperate to find out. I'm seeing that wildflowers tend to grow tall. I guess that in the wild they compete with other plants for sunlight. Two unknowns shown below:

    From this year:
    Unknown4.gif
    From last year:
    stranger3.jpg
     
    #210
    Last edited: Jun 30, 2023
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