Updated Post ......i Do Some Gardening For A Freind And She Has An 8Ft Yucca...

[lilacben]

I do some gardening for a freind and she has an 12ft yucca.... a thick middle stem and a few stems off of it....she has asked me if I can cut the top off and replant it in another place in the garden.? I am not sure how to go about this or when? any help would be great thankyou.
Many thanks for the replies before... just thought I would repost the question.... having had a good look at it today I realisze it is at least 12ft tall ..and have had a word with the owner... in the summer it has pink/red flowers ...by the sound of it they come from all over the plant not just a plume at the top. So now I am sure it is a cordyline...? would anyone else agree with me? if so how should we make it shorter? cut off the top at the middle and what about the two foot or so growth coming from the sides?

[SirOracle]

I am no gardening expert but 3 years ago I had a cordyline which had grown to 12 feet. I cut it down to about 3 feet and a few months later new growth appeared from the roots (6 shoots).

The trunk of the original rotted away to ground level. The 5 new shoots are healthy and about 3 feet long. I will add that my garden is exposed to fairly strong winds and I am in Scotland ( East coast )

[hammerman]

Generally speaking, the leaves on a Yucca will be nasty, sharp, pointy beasts which will take your eyes out. The flowers they produce are huge spikes with 2-3" flowers all up the spike...they are pinky-white. I suppose they could get to 12 foot at a push. They flowers usually get smothered in black fly.

Cordylines have much thinner, strappier leaves which which tend to bend easily. They are more then capable of growing over 12 foot tall either as a single or multi-stemmed specimen.
They produce a huge cluster of tiny white flowers which are very highly scented...some people say sweetly scented, others don't but they are very strong.

Both Yuccas and Cordylines can benefit from a good chop down....all the side growth, as well as new shoots from the stem may grow and take the main stem's place over time.

[Chipchopper]

Without seeing it, it sounds like a Cordyline you have there. 12ft sounds about right too, it can often reach 15ft or potentially twice that in ideal conditions.

Once they have got to the flowering stage, thats when they tend start branching.

It may be possible to shorten the stem (mid to late spring) and its likely to send out new growth at random places along the main stem, then you can trim back above a shoot to tidy it up.
Its also likely you will get basal shoots around the roots, these can easily be cut away from the roots (with some roots attached) and these can be potted up and transplanted to other parts of the garden later on, if they take successfully.

[Chipchopper]

ps, I attempted to post an earlier answer on your first post but unfortunately the gremlins crashed my computer :-(

[lilacben]

Thankyou to you all. I have sent a photo to the owner of the flowers on a cordyline...but she says they are more orange and buds? puzzled again.?

[Chipchopper]

Yes it dose seem puzzling Lilacben, just a long-shot but could she mean orange berries, rather than buds ? the common forms are black but there are also some species that are orange.

[hammerman]

I thought about berries, chipchopper. Wondered of it could've been a Cottoneaster.

[lilacben]

If it was a cottoneaster it would be more of a bush wouldnt it? This is like the Cordyline... with long thinish leaves....and the bark? ....I have taken photos of it but my bleep phone will not let me download them to anything...not even a email..its the orange buds that are now really fooling me? think I will take a walk to garden center and see what they say or just look at some the same.. will let you all know when I ked one down... thankyou all again xx