Yucca
Yucca gloriosa
Full sun and sharp drainage are not negotiable — far more are lost to the watering can than to the winter.
Spacing & sowing
- Plant spacing
- 2 ft 11 in
- In-row spacing
- 2 ft 11 in
- Between rows
- 3 ft 8 in
- Square-foot density
- Not suited to SFG
Growing
- Type
- Shrub · Perennial
- Botanical family
- Mixed / other
- Sunlight
- Full sun is not optional.
- Watering
- Drought-tolerant once established; water sparingly, since too much brings root rot.
- Feeding
- No feeding in the ground; a light spring feed for containerized plants only.
- Frost tolerant
- Yes
- Flowering
- August
- Pruning
- Cut the spent flower spike off at the base, and strip the dead lower leaves away in spring.
- Overwintering
- Hardy through winter where drainage is good; move containerized plants under cover if the winter turns wet.
Through the year
- Apr–Aug Spring Growth
- Aug–Oct Flowering
- Oct–Dec Growing
- Jan–Apr Growing
Pests & problems
Garden allies
Beneficial predators that hunt this plant's pests — grow their favourite flowers nearby to recruit them. companion plant
- Hoverfly SyrphidaeHunts Scale insects
Bee-mimicking flies whose legless larvae graze aphid colonies clean while the adults pollinate. A ribbon of shallow, nectar-rich flowers kept in bloom all season recruits wave after wave of them.
- Ladybird (lady beetle) CoccinellidaeHunts Scale insects
The gardener’s favorite ally: adults and their alligator-shaped larvae each eat thousands of aphids, plus scale, mealybugs, and other soft-bodied sap-suckers. Grow flat, open flowers for the adults and never spray a colony that ladybird larvae are already working.
The Cottage Garden Companion — the gardener's herbarium at cottagegardencompanion.com