Question
I live on east coast of Ireland and have had three tall healthy Yucca trees in my front garden for over 12 years. However, during last winter all leaves were stripped from the trees by the unusually strong winds, as were many others in my neighborhood.  Now there seems to be no life or sign of them growing again. Is there anything I can do or are my trees dead.  They were very beautiful and I loved their beauty. Please give me some advice on this. I will be very grateful for this. Maria

Answer
Maria,

Be very patient, if the trunk has not collapsed it is not dead. The new leaves will only come out at the top of the trunk. It will not grow new laves any lower than the top of the trunk and that will give it a palm tree appearance. You may need to et out a step ladder to inspect the top of the trunk and see if you see signs of new leaf buds. It could take as much as a year for it to show signs of new leaves coming out on the top. You can protect it in the future by wrapping the top of the plant in plastic and burlap tied tightly so the wind cannot blow the leaves off. You will need the burlap over the plastic to prevent the leaves from being burned through the plastic.

Again, if the trunk has not collapsed or turned mushy or became desiccated and dried out the plant is still alive and you need to just be patient. The other thing that may happen is if the trunk is damaged beyond regrowth the roots may send out side shoots eventually and grow several new trees to replace your 3 damaged ones. Yuccas are nearly impossible to totally kill if you are trying too. Every piece of root left in the ground is capable of growing a new tree if you dig up the old plants. Therefore, I can say with near certainty that your yuccas will survive, one way or the other they will either start growing at the top or send out new side shoots and you can eventually cut off the dead trunks but don't do that until you have new side shoots at least 30 centimeters tall. Good luck!

Darlene