Yucca or Adam’s-Needle Yucca
Yucca filamentosa (formerly Yucca smalliana) (AGAVACEAE)
Planting and Growing Yucca
You’ll find everything you need to know to plant and grow Adam’s-needle yucca in the accompanying table’s tabs:
-
- Flowers, foliage, fruit, seeds or nuts of Adam’s-needle yucca
- Growing conditions for Adam’s-needle yucca
- When and where to plant Adam’s-needle yucca
- How to plant Adam’s-needle yucca
- How to shape, prune and control growth of Adam’s-needle yucca
- Watering, fertilizing, and care of Adam’s-needle yucca
- Landscape uses of Adam’s-needle yucca
- Pest and disease control for Adam’s-needle yucca
Growing Adam’s-Needle Yucca
Several cultivars of medium-growing, mounding, evergreen shrubs, 2–3 ft. (60–90 cm) tall and to 5 ft. (1.5 m) wide, with shiny, blue to deep green, stiff, sword-shaped leaves, to 30 in. (75 cm) long, with thready edges and armed with terminal, thorny spines, forming a circular, radiating base.
More than 15 closely related species of Yucca with similar care needs are commonly cultivated.
Yucca Planting and Care Guide
Flowers and Seeds
Showy, fragrant, saucer-shaped, cream, purple, white flowers, to 2 in. (50 mm) long, in spiking clusters on woody stems, to 8 ft. (2.4 m) tall, in late spring–summer, form winged seed in autumn.
Best Climates
U.S.D.A. Plant Hardiness Zones 4–10. Hardy.
Soil Type and Fertility
Damp to dry, well-drained sandy soil. Fertility: Average. 6.0–7.5 pH.
Where and How to Plant
Full sun. Space 3–10 ft. (90–305 cm) apart.
Proper Care
Easy. Deep water; allow soil to dry between waterings. Drought tolerant. Fertilize quarterly. Propagate by cuttings, seed.
About This Species
Good choice for accents, containers in arid, meadow, turfgrass gardens. Good for cutting, drying. Aphid and leaf spot susceptible.
Yucca Species
-
- Yucca aloifolia, Spanish-bayonet
- Yucca baccata, banana yucca
- Yucca brevifolia, Joshua tree
- Yucca carnerosana, Spanish-dagger
- Yucca elata, soaptree yucca
- Yucca elephantipes, giant yucca
- Yucca filamentosa, Adam’s-needle
- Yucca glauca, soapweed
- Yucca gloriosa, Spanish-dagger
- Yucca reverchonii, San Angelo yucca
- Yucca rigida, blue yucca
- Yucca rupicola, twisted-leaved yucca
- Yucca schottii, mountain yucca
- Yucca treculeana, palma pita
- Yucca whipplei, Our-Lord’s-candle
About Yucca
About 40 species of mounding, bushy, deciduous shrubs are included in the Yucca genus. All are lily-family relatives and cold-tolerant plants, able to survive winters to U.S.D.A. Plant Hardiness Zone 4.
Yuccas are native to North America’s high deserts and arid plains.
Yuccas bear basal rosettes of long, sword-shaped leaves in a circular fan. Their leaves are thick and leathery. When mature, they produce remarkable, erect flower stalks, with branching clusters of purple or white, open or bell-shaped, nodding flowers.
After flowering in early summer, the plant may resume its growth or yellow and die, depending on the species. Dead plants produce many new offsets at their base, renewing the life cycle.
Yuccas are medium-growing shrubs, mostly 2–3 ft. (60–90 cm) tall. They are susceptible to damage from aphids and leaf-spot disease.
Use them as accents in full sun sites, or as windbreaks or natural fences in desert landscapes. In small-space, arid gardens, they make excellent container plants. Yuccas are a good option for Xeriscape gardens.
Choose from among the most popular species of yucca, listed above.
Planting and Caring for Yucca
Yuccas are showy plants that stand alone either as specimen solo plantings or in ranked groups. When used as large specimens, yucca may survive for generations, however, before they bloom. They are popular in the desert and arid-climate gardens.
Smaller species are ideal as accent plants in rock gardens or a structural planting on a seaside patio. They are good for cutting and drying for use in arrangements.
Plant yuccas in damp to dry, well-drained, sandy soil of average fertility. They are salt tolerant and require little care. Water them whenever their soil has dried completely, and fertilize them quarterly in spring and summer with liquid nitrogen fertilizer.
Yuccas seldom require pruning. If a leaf discolors or becomes damaged, cut it carefully at its base.
Remember that the leaves of many yuccas are armed with sharp spines at their ends and pose a hazard to passersby on nearby paths and walkways. Cut the spines off with a sharp hand pruner or position the plants at a distance away from nearby walkways.
Although many yuccas are low, mounding plants, other species are treelike and striking additions to the home landscape.
One of these, Yucca brevifolia, or Joshua tree, is a many-branched species that reaches 30 feet (9 m) or more in height.
The contorted branches of Joshua tree, with their sprays of spiny leaves, are especially pleasing when lit from below at night in a site near a deck or other outdoor activity area.
Use yuccas in containers as plants to add visual interest and texture to small-space gardens.