Add Photo to Journal
|
|
| Photo Credit: Gary Irish |
|
Yucca recurvifolia grows equally well in sand dunes and forest soils. |
With their arresting symmetry and sturdy texture, yuccas (Yucca) can be smoothly incorporated into almost any garden style – from a highly formalized perennial planting to the wild exuberance of a native wildflower patch. All typically have sweet-scented, creamy-white flowers and do fine in full sun just about anywhere (except in the deserts of the Southwest, where a high, light shade is preferred).
Not all yuccas are giants like the Joshua tree (Yucca brevifolia), and the smaller ones offer gardeners throughout much of the country an opportunity to incorporate these beautiful, drought-tolerant plants into their own gardens. Here are some of the outstanding ones: Spanish dagger (Y. aloifolia) is native along the coast from Louisiana to Florida and north to Virginia. It has numerous stiff, spine-tipped leaves that crowd around a 3-foot trunk that’s often branched, supporting a number of stems. A mature plant can grow more than 6 feet tall and up to 10 feet wide (although they are generally grown to be much smaller). Depending on the variety, the leaves can range from long, wide and lax to short, stiff and upright, as well as from bright to dull green, white or yellow-striped. Some even have leaves that turn deep purple in cool weather. Spanish dagger thrives in any well-drained soil – even the rocky native soils of the Southwestern desert.
Adam’s needle (Y. filamentosa) has wide, thin, flexible, spike-shaped leaves that form a low rosette 2 feet tall and about as wide. Native along the coast from Mississippi to Florida and north to New Jersey, it grows well as far north as Maine. Good drainage is essential, but otherwise Adam’s needle isn’t particular about soil type. It does well in the heat of the Southeast, but it can suffer in the extreme heat of Southwestern desert.
Yucca flaccida is native to the mountains of western North Carolina to northern Alabama, making it one the most tolerant of all yuccas to cold, damp conditions. It can suffer, though, in the dry heat of the deserts. This plant is a trunkless species with 5-foot-wide rosettes of thin, flexible leaves lined with straight, delicate filaments (parts of the leaf margin that separate and come at least partially free from the leaf). Plants form numerous offsets, and a mature clump can be extensive.
|
| Facts |
- Most small yuccas are not particular about soils, but all require outstanding drainage.
- There are few pests or diseases that plague yuccas, although borers occasionally cause damage to the taller, more treelike forms.
|
| Tips |
- In areas with regular summer rainfall, small yuccas do fine on natural wetness. When rainfall is scarce or not available for long periods, twice-monthly watering for most is recommended.
|
| Definitions |
- Filaments: Portions of the margin of the leaf that break free. Depending on the species, they may be fine or coarse, thin or thick, straight or curly.
- Rosette: The arrangement of leaves or flowers around a central axis, as in the leaves of agave, yucca and most of their relatives, aloes and the flowers of roses.
|
|
|