Yucca Gloriosa in flower ....

We have three variegated 'Spanish Dagger' plants (Yucca Gloriosa) in the garden, two of which we bought quite small and planted in the ground five or so years ago, and a third that self-spawned from one of those two originals. 

This third plant just appeared above ground one day next to its parent, around three years ago, and after a while we lifted it and potted it on (where it's doing well, and it actually seems to be giving birth to a fourth plant judging from a small side shoot forming at the edge of its pot).

From the growth rate of this third plant, and the size it is now compared to the originals at the time we bought them, I'd say the big two must be around 8 years old.   

The mature plants issue many new leaves from their centres each year, and as the lower leaves fold outwards and trail below the horizontal I usually first cut them with a sharp knife and then pull them off the plant completely, which forms an ever increasing height of 'trunk' on the plant as it grows into a more tree-like form.  

The broad leaf edges are very sharp, and there's also a needle point on the end, so their common name is very apt - they can be quite dangerous to be near and to handle, so they're maybe not suitable plants if you've young children. 

Anyway, this year, and obviously spurred on by a warmer summer, one of them has flowered !

We've seen it's quite a slow process for the yucca to come into flower.  We first noticed a spike rising from the centre around the beginning of August, which gradually lengthened and thickened while developing large red buds which remained tightly folded against the stem.

25-Aug-18, flower spike clearly visible

31-Aug-18, spike rising

Eventually, these red buds folded out to form flower stems ...

10-Sep-18, buds folding out (and after I'd
trimmed off the lower leaves)

... and then, after what seemed an age, the ends opened into beautiful creamy-white bell-like flowers   

14-Oct-18, flowers starting to
open from the bottom

27-Oct-18, almost in full flower, but not quite

Even now, at the end of October, several of the flower buds have still not yet opened.

However, I was reading up on these plants, and some of the references indicate that we're quite lucky to get the plant into full flower here, because the process takes so long that the buds can easily be killed off by frosts before they can all open.

We've already had two very light frosts in the last couple of weeks (and that's unusually early for this location), but the plant has just shrugged them off and new flowers are still opening.  

In warmer climes, the flowers will eventually develop into edible fruits, but that's not going to happen here.

Still, it's been very interesting to watch and has resulted in a beautiful and unusual display.