Saved From the Wrecking Ball

When a friend tells you they’ve sold their house, it’s being demolished next week, and then casually asks if you want the 8-foot-tall Yucca rostrata in the yard… I’m pretty sure the YES came out of Brian’s mouth before the question was even finished.

Of course, this happened at a time when we had a million other things going on. Bad winter weather was about to roll in, and we were still in full greenhouse-prep mode. A few pictures were sent, and I knew immediately we couldn’t let that Yucca be demolished along with the house. Naturally, our truck had broken down a couple of days earlier, so many favors had to be called in to make this happen.

We went to see the Yucca in person to assess what we were getting into, and it was much larger than we expected. It also had around seven heads, which made it extremely top-heavy. The next day, with a borrowed truck, several favors called in, and a couple of cousins recruited, we were back at the house with spades and shovels in hand.

I have to say, Brian had that massive tree dug up—with a perfect root ball—in about 30 minutes. I was impressed. I backed the trailer right up to the base of the Yucca so that when we pushed it over, it would fall straight onto the trailer. A great plan… especially since this thing weighed close to 1,000 pounds. Brian and his cousin then decided they were just going to pick up the root ball and slide the Yucca the rest of the way on.

It didn’t move.

At that point, we thought we might be in big trouble. After lots of troubleshooting, trial and error, sweat, and probably a few tears, the four of us were barely able to slide the Yucca onto the trailer for the 40-minute drive home. Needless to say, we got some very strange looks along the way. It looked like we had an alien Muppet strapped to the back of the trailer.

Once we got home, we used Taxi—our tractor—to lift the Yucca and gently place her on the ground to be planted another day.

A couple of days later, it was time to plant this Muppet. Brian and his cousin strapped the Yucca so Taxi could lift her straight up and lower the root ball into the hole. Sounded like a solid plan… until she was hoisted into the air and immediately tipped sideways because of how top-heavy she was. Around and around she spun.

More straps and anchors were added, and about six hours later, she was finally in the ground—secured with eight T-posts and support lines to keep her standing straight. She doesn’t look as massive as she really is when she’s out in the landscape by herself on the farm, but she is absolutely beautiful.

Brian mentioned the Yucca to a few people, and unbeknownst to us, there was an entire Facebook page dedicated to saving this plant from being demolished. Everyone was thrilled that she made it safely to our farm, where she can continue to grow.

Let us know below: Would you have saved her?