Identification

When it comes to garden plants, I don't pay them a lot of attention - unless they are vegetables or bear edible fruit. Otherwise, I like plants that fill spaces and look after themselves - often competing for pre-eminence - as in wild Nature.

I cannot remember when we planted two spiky plants in one of our borders - nor where we acquired them. They have just been there, managing to survive in spite of the shade and the competition.But a week ago I noticed that one of those plants was starting to push out some kind of flowering spike. It had never happened before.

That flowering spike is quite large - around five feet. And so I became curious. What on earth is this plant that dares to create such a display? 

I could be wrong and plant experts like Steve Reed or Poppy Patchwork could easily correct me but I think the plant is a yukka filamentosa - sometimes known as Adam's Needle. It is, I believe, native to the south-eastern states of America.

Recently we have been having some very hot weather here in Yorkshire and I wonder if that is what has encouraged the plant to bloom for the first time. Meanwhile the sister plant is looking on with no sign of a similar flowering spike pushing skywards.

But I will keep an eye on her. You never know, she might have  got the message too.