Worth the Inconvenience

So how much inconvenience are you willing to put up with just to be able to bring home a plant?

Quite alot here, not to the point of utter pain and suffering, but the willingness to go through a state of discomfort for a few hours just to be able to bring back home a plant I'm smitten with!

And it has happened several times before, through the years of visiting nurseries, going on plant shopping trips, buying plants on our holidays here and abroad, or just simply spotting a plant you just have to get at times when you least expect or prepared for it.

Just recently we went for a weekend break staying at a friend's house in Devon, which is about 200 miles away from where we live. On a visit to their nearby retail and amusement park, I spotted a lovely looking plant growing happily outside in the garden section. From a distance it looked like a bromeliad, which would have been unusual as it's planted out in the open and that area has gone down to possibly lower than -10C, and very few bromeliads could survive such low temperatures (Fascicularia bicolor ssp. canaliculata can, and the odd others). On closer inspection it looked more like a small yucca, with spiny tips but what attracted me are the colour, symmetry and arrangement of leaves. And the fact it remained unflawed despite all the frosts and snow it's been through.

My thoughts were confirmed when a couple was available for sale near the counters, labelled as Yucca aloifolia 'Purpurea'. The shape and form of the plant is unlike any other yucca I've encountered before and suffice to say I'm smitten. So pleased they had some for sale andjust had to bring back one with us.

Not wanting to risk ruining the symmetry or bruising the leaves by placing it at the boot, I opted to place it in between my legs throughout our journey back home. Now that's a three and a half hour car journey that I had this yucca wedged between my legs! It made the journey uncomfortable for me but it was so well worth it, chuffed that it made home in a pristine condition.

Now that's not the first time I've been through a long car journey with a plant on my lap or in between my legs. Almost always, whenever we get back from Cornwall and our car full to the brim with plants have I found myself needing to do this. There was even a time we had to place all our luggage on the roof rack so that all the plants can be accomodated at the back and boot of the car (and at the front!).

Other uncomfortable situations I've subjected myself into before are having to sit at the back with a much smaller space to make way for long and big specimens, having leafy plants brushing my face for hours in the car, and hand carrying plants of varying sizes from Central London all the way home using both the London Undeground and National Rail in the process, with the most recent being a Yucca rostrata in a heavy terracotta pot during rush hour.

I sometimes doubt my sanity whilst in the midst of it all but as soon as I get home all doubts dissappear and it feels great getting them home.

So many wonderful plants out there that would make a lovely addition to your garden or collection, and getting some of them home can be tricky or uncomfortable. But if you really want it and it'll make you happy then it is definitely worth the inconvenience :)

Update 30/01/11: Upon further research on the plant Yucca aloifolia 'Purpurea', it seems that it could be the same as Yucca desmetiana, and that the former is a mislabelling. I'll look more into it and post an update :)

Posted in: Yucca