You sound excited to have a yucca! They are palm-like..lol

I have had variuos yuccas. Most can survive a NY winter inground to my amazement.

I would use a sandy-loam soil to pot her and not leave it out on nites below 29* b/c pots freeze fastest.

Yuccas are very hardy plants. Most prefer sand, but there are tons by me and they grow in the natural clay soil just fine (and also germinate all over the place around this time of the year). There are many tropical yucca species that cant handle a frost, some can handle a light frost, some can handle our winters but not much colder, and others can suvive subzero temps for days.
Some are pretty fast and some are really slow. Not sure about filifera.

Good luck!

'Filifera' is one of the most common temperate species of Yucca. They come in a variegated form as well which is quite attractive as well. Yuccas are not quick growers but tolerate of drought and brillant, hot sunny conditions--filifera is a fine species. Another one that does well in the humid East (and is commonly available) is Y. recurvifolia. Many Yucca species tolerant of cold are less tolerant of cold and WET but I have not had issues with either filifera or recurvifolia. Filiferas readily produce suckers so are quite easy to propagate. Locally, they bloom in June. Keep in mind the blooming, mother plant eventually dies after flowering but will produce lots of suckers. Why are you leaving it in a container? I have managed to grow some of them in containers over the years in zone 7a without problems--though the ground is really better in terms of winter protection. Keep in mind that filifera will not form a trunk (recurvifolia will form a trunk but I believe it is probably limited to zone 7 or a good 6b microclimate). Eventually, I would like to experiment with more of the many species but our climate is so darned WET and humid (winter, summer...) it does dramatically reduce the number of species that could be grown successfully in a drier zone 7. Raised beds are definitely an advantage with a lot of these species in rainy zones! Take care. PS., I do believe they prefer alkaline soils of higher pH.

Thanx for the info. I got it already starting to form trunk about 2 inches. I dont see any suckers either is it possible I have the wrong yucca? The one I have has very erect leaves and very fat base and the person I got it from says it grows faster then most other yuccas. Anyway Im gonna pot it up I may be selling the building I live in and I plan on taking it with me

after some searching on google I ran across this site with interesting info. The guy has a seedling put in the ground and grew into a plant with trunk in 1 or 2 years maybe I should get another of these
http://www.fortunecity.com/greenfield/swallowtail/179/hardiness/yucca_filifera.htm

Here is a link that might be useful: Filifera

I really like recurvifolia. They do really well here. Some of the ones I saw were severly pruned down to only a few leaves in november and they made it through the winter just fine and are growing again (despite the fact that they really should not have healthy leaves cut off in late fall). They usually bloom 2 times a year here, once in may or june (arounf that time) and then they bloom again in the fall espeically in warm years. One probelm I have noticed is if the trunk is curving a lot it gets very top heavy and if a lot of weight it put on it (like a big snow storm), it will break the trunk. They quickly make babies to fill it back up though. They get pretty tall in a few years and are pretty fast growing considering they are yuccas. The largest ones in the area are pretty tall and most are around 4 feet tall.

Another one I really like is Yucca faxoniana. Much rarer to find by me, but the ones I do see look very healthy. They are rated for a zone 8 but I have not seen them have any problems even in colder winters here (some have seen around 5F). Not sure if it can handle a zone 6, and its also pretty slow growing, but a nice looking plant that slowly gets to a pretty nice size.

Yucca rostratas are nice because you can get large ones (expensive, but easily found). Not very fast growing, but they care cold tolerant and pretty tall (Ive seen a few a little over 10 feet in my area).

You definitely do not need a dry climate for yuccas to thrive as long as the soil around doesnt stay moist. Most are very slow growing but with good care they speed up a lot.

Good luck!

Thanx everyone

Mike, I was confusing the species you mentioned (Y. filifera) with another one. I see that your filifera is a trunking species and they say a fast grower.--Let us know how it works out for you.

That's a cool site Mike,I think that guy is in Wisconsin-
if I am not mistaken.
He has tried a lot of different plants,cactus,palms etc.

I think it is pretty amazing that he just covers his stuff with a rain shield.

Wish I new how to access his other stuff to see if he has updated his field trials/good luck with your new baby!

Check the link below

Here is a link that might be useful:

Thats cool the flowers hang down!!!

Wow those flowers are like the chandeliers of the yucca world! Very cool. I really like yucca flowers, but those are even better than the common straight up ones. Looks like this yucca grows to a nice sized tree.
I saw that guys pics, he's got some big and nice looking plants for sure and it definitely doesnt look like something that can grow in Wisconsin!

Good luck!

Yea,very cool flowers!

They are in Rhode Island not Wisconsin sorry-

They have a lengthy list of stuff they have cold tested,
worth checking out!

Rhode island is much warmer than wisconsin, but it still gets cold there (I think most of the state is a zone 6 by the coast and a zone 5 away from the coast). Pretty cold to be growing such nice yuccas! Ill have to see that list of stuff they tried.

Good luck!

Mike--- I live in Zone 8b Southern NM. We have yucca rigida, thompsonia, torreyei, baccata, carnerosana, linierifolia, rostrata, and filifera planted. By far, the fastest growing is the filifera. One which was planted 8 years ago as a 2 ft. plant is now 12 ft. tall!!! The others have not grown as fast as that one, which is on a hillside and gets good drainage, but even those are 6 and 8 ft. tall. Sandy soil without amendments, dry in winter, and get watered about 3 times a month if no rain (a common scenario here in April, May, and June). These are really beautiful tree yuccas. Enjoy!