Hah! That reminds me of when I was a kid and there was lots of empty beach in the Pompano area where we lived, mom would go over to the beach, cut off a yucca and attach to a board, spray paint it gold and put ornaments on it like that.

I recall how big Yucca plants were very popular back in the 60s &70s, and people would put painted styrofoam balls on the spines, presumably as a protective measure.

Yes, when we first moved to Fl. from the cold north, I went wild and propagated plain ole yuccas for foundation plants. Can you believe it?

That was early 70's. We didn't have big choices in nice plants and yuccas

were listed in my Fl. Plant book so I figured they were a desirable plant. HUH.

Haha - and then they all flowered and died out, I guess...?

Yuccas dont die after flowering.... well hesperoyucca does, but its not technically a proper yucca. Agaves and furcraea die too. Dont know about hesperoaloe....

As a somewhat proud owner of a few.....

Yuccas have a few a problems as a culture:

Most desirable(pretty) plants are not cold hardy.

The pretty ones are either hard to grow, very pointy, or grow very large /long leaves.

Some species become invasive, and spread a lot...

Flower spikes are decent, but i take it if you dont have that special moth, you wont get seeds....

The long spiky foliage though attractive, may cause injuries, and makes them hard to handle.

They will push back surrounding vegetation after a certain time , inhibit growth and spread....(i used this to get rid of nettles when i planted my gloriosa in the ground)

Some grow really slow......

js

Just right for the season :) Cute...are they all ornaments? Most look like chocolates to me.

Pretty! I used to have a big topiary rosemary in a container that I decorated every year.

The first year I moved out of my parent's house into my own apartment, I had NO money for a Christmas tree, so my roommate and I went out into the woods, found a beautiful long, bowering dead branch, stripped off all the bark and oiled it down with some tung oil my dad had. He helped us cement it into a bucket, but only put 1/2 bucket of cement. I'll tell you why below. We cleaned it up a bit, strung one string of white lights donated by a friend, and a bunch of us got together to make baker's clay ornaments to hang on it. We wrapped a sheet around the bottom. It was gorgeous! After Christmas, we put it out on the balcony, filled the rest of the bucket with soil, and grew ivy up it. When we moved, we gave it to a friend to put on her back patio.

I love using my plants to decorate for Christmas. One year, I just put my tomato cages upside down in front of my house, tied the ends together, and used floral wire to attach lights. I got more compliments on those little "trees!"

What great plant stories and memories!!!

Rina, they are mini styrofoam ornaments from the craft store... if I had only thought of chocolate......another missed opportunity!!!

Court Jester

I still see that occasionally in the less urban parts of central northern FL, dangermouse.