As its habit, yucca on my terrace is flowering at the craziest of times. One stem with flowers is already up, and a few buds on its bottom have opened by now. They are wonderful to behold. But another stem is growing at the same time. It is about a quarter of the way to its full height, which means that it will flower in late September or early October. There are still some insects around in spite of the recent cold spell, but I wonder about the following month. Anyway, my best hope is that the yucca is much better at weather forecasting than I am. Indeed, it knows the terrace inside and out by now, for it was planted many years before I bought the house. I would not be surprised to learn that it goes back all the way to the early Seventies, when the house was rebuilt from the ruins. Again, yucca’s wisdom is my last hope. Judging by its stupendous growth in the recent past, there is nothing to worry about. Perhaps it could teach us all a thing or two about weather forecasting.

Addendum I (September 17, 2015)

When I returned to Motovun this evening, I immediately went to the terrace to see how it was doing. My beloved loves it, and so my care for the plant is only intensified. Anyhow, I was amazed to see yet another stem that has appeared in my absence. The third stem is a bit shorter than the second, but not by much. Both of them will flower in early October. The yucca is really pushing it this year. According to the plant, much of the fall will be splendid. Fingers crossed.

Addendum II (October 15, 2015)

As soon as we arrived in Motovun this afternoon, my beloved went to the terrace to see how her darling yucca was doing. And she discovered that three more stems were shooting toward the sunlight through the leaves. They will flower in a few weeks, but the two stems that were in flower when I left the hilltown a fortnight ago are still splendid to see. In full bloom, they look quite stunning in the sunshine. As luck would have it, we were welcomed by wonderful weather. Lounging on the terrace, we kept shaking our heads in disbelief. There were only a few clouds in the sky, and it was quite balmy. It looks very like spring, which is perhaps why the yucca is going bonkers in the middle of the fall. Nothing but wisdom can explain it!

Addendum III (December 11, 2015)

It was already dark when I returned to Motovun yesterday evening, and so I went to the terrace to see how the yucca was doing only this morning. To my amazement, two stems are in bloom, but the third one is still in bud. I expected all three of them to be withered by now. The yucca seems to be taking its time on account of several cold spells the last four or five weeks. Although it is managing the flowering surprisingly well, there are no insects around to do their bit. I could not see a single insect anywhere on the terrace this morning, which suggests that there were a few frosty days while I was in Zagreb. The flowers are in perfect shape, though, which means that the temperatures have not gone too far below freezing so far. In short, the yucca has managed pretty well this year. I am ever more convinced that its wisdom is far from a joke.