Beware of the Yucca

I give you the Yucca plant.

Some may find it beautiful, but I'm not one of them. The leaves are incredibly spiky and sharp, and frankly I just don't like the look of them at all. When we moved into our lovely home, there were approximately 30 in the yard. A landscaping crew came to our house to help us clean up the yard and remove all of the Yucca plants. I had read they were rather difficult to remove and ask the crew if they would be able to take care of them. "Of course" they said. And less than a month later:

They're back! All of those little green sprouts? Yep, Yucca plants. Apparently the landscaper thought that digging up the top of the plant and then hacking off the root would work. Boy was he wrong. Every little chunk of root that was left in the ground, I'm talking even a chunk that broke off the size of a quarter, has started sprouting a new plant. So instead of 15 plants in the front, we have discovered close to 40 sprouts!

The poor hubs has spent countless hours in the yard digging and sifting through the dirt to try and find every last bit of root. Some of the roots are the size of a small tree, so those ones are getting the salt treatment. You can read what others suggest to remove Yuccas here.

So if you ever consider planting a Yucca in your yard, I beg you to look for other options. Otherwise you might be stuck with it forever!