Explore Outdoors ~ I thought this was a Desert Plant!

 Last fall I discovered some yucca plants growing in one of the yards down in the village. It surprised me because I think of yucca as a desert plant, not one found in northeast gardens! But they have a wide distribution across the US and even up into the southern Atlantic states.

 The cool thing about yucca plants is that their leaves have lots of fibers curling off - I wrote about them in a previous post.

 

 

Those fibers look fragile, but if you spin them together they can make a pretty sturdy string.

 

As fascinated as I am about yucca fibers (and I am, because I enjoy twining and spinning anything from milkweed to grasses), I found their seedpods even more interesting.

The seeds themselves are flat, round-ended triangles, and thinner than I expected. I planted a bunch this spring and managed to get half-a-dozen seedlings (about 50% germination). The seeds took a long time to germinate, and the seedlings are slow-growing. On the plus-side, they seem to tolerate benign neglect. 

Though I may have to bring them inside for winter ...