I will add my two cents after a four year battle with this demon plant. There were many (plant) casualties along they way as I lost quiet a few as well as having to digup and relocate to lovely Japanese maples. First what didn’t work - Every chemical I could get my hand on trying to poison the damn thing. - Constant digging the roots out. - Weed screens - Yukka just grows right through the best of them. What finally worked. It wasn’t easy the house we bought four years ago had three big Yukkas in the main garden. I knew I was in trouble because when I would dig a foot down or more to the main roots they where huge and ripe, even after 6 months of no signs of growth the Yukka root looked like cutting a potato open white and juicy. We ended the battle this spring, we literally had to dig up our whole garden. Around 3 and 1/2 feet down to were we hit concrete which thankfully the previous owner had lined the bottom of the garden with. We had dig up every inch of dirt and then had it removed, cleaned the area with bleach for about a month and then brought in fresh dirt. There gone finally and we couldnt be happier. What I learned from the experience - never buy a house with them, unless you like the plant the amount of effort to remove is enough to land you in the looney bin.... Replace all the dirt, it could be the tiniest piece of Yukka you didn’t see that will regrow in a few months if you just dig out the root and then use the same dirt, remove every inch of dirt.

Wonderful, Sweet Alberta!!!! Your yucca yeastingly yummifies my iner filaments of desire!!!! I think I will try to grow one or two Yf's in a rock girded pocket in full sun.....perhaps also an inner rubber tire for greater holding of warmth and perhaps with some kind of reflecting sheet of foil nearby to reflect more light/heat yuccaward.... and perhaps one in a good sized container that can be taken indoors for winter hibernation.... or are these manouevers needlessly over the top in my bid to have a little desert beauty flowering in my northwest niche? Man-made microclimates are definitely crucial in any gardeneer's bid to expand the zonal strait-jacket,eh! Great pics...thanks...Ron

Thanks guys. Johnnieb, WOW, I was down there in September, and did not take any pics, but man those bananas were almost twice the height in Sept 08 than they are in your photo from July. It always amazes me how fast they grow. Ive had Musa basjoo go from 1 foot tall, to 15 feet in just a few months. Definitely the thing to grow if you want fast, and extremely noticeable results. I wonder if they would care if anyone took any of the seedlings? I would guess they would not since there are literally hundreds of them in that planter and the surrounding planters. I wish they would let them go to seed more. When I was there in Sept, I was there twice in two weeks, and the second time I went down I noticed they had removed all of the seed stalks from the Sabal Minor. It was kind of disappointing. I would venture to guess that once enough of those get planted around the DC area, and are left to go to see, we might start seeing them naturalise a bit in and around the city.

Omitting the spare tire is not so much a gas saving thing as it is a money pinch and advertising gimmic. With the spare removed, the trunk space is larger and that shows up on the list of brand comparisons. In the interest of saving space in SUVs and pickup trucks, a popular place to store the spare is under the vehicle. This may be ok in warm dry weather, but its the worst place when running in cold, wet climates. Add road salt to the mix and you've got a disaster - the screw threads corrode and it gets impossible to remove the tire from storage not to mention crawling around on the ground. 99.9% of the time, one does not need a spare, but the one time you need it, you really need it because there is nothing else. This particularily true when traveling in lonely remote places. You can be in trouble even on an interstate. I recall crossing the Nevada desert and as you crossed the east side of the state, a sign warned: no service for 250 miles. Myself and a Corvete entered that crossing at the same time. The speed limit was 80 mph but even the Corvete driver slowed to a reasonable, sustainable speed. I drove the entire 250 miles without seeing another vehicle. Yeah, if I should have needed a spare in that stretch, I really would have needed one. Now, about getting the lugs nuts off, that's another problem.