Yucca Plant Growing & Care Guide for Gardeners

Article by Dean Ravenscroft, Ph.D. - Updated 15th Oct 2023

In this Gardener's HQ guide, we'll explore cultivating Yucca plants in your garden, indoor spaces, and other settings.

Soapweed, Spanish Dagger, Spanish Bayonet, & Adam's Needle: Cultivation & Garden Use

This guide will hopefully provide everything you'll need to know to successfully Grow and Care for Yucca Plants such as Soapweed, Spanish Dagger, Spanish Bayonet, and Adam's needle outside in your garden, indoors in pots or containers, or even for use as part of your landscaping efforts.

As they are very tolerant to drought, the Yucca plant is great to grow if you live in an area that sees little rain .

Yucca queretaroensis

What is a Yucca Plant?

The Yucca Plant is a hardy or half-hardy perennial. The genus contains up to 50 species and these can range in height from 30 cm to 2.5 m (1 foot to 8 feet).

Yuccas typically have very thick woody stems, and spiky sword shaped leaves leaves.

They bloom from the middle of summer through autumn, when they carry white flowers.

Some common names for the Yucca plant include Soapweed, Spanish Dagger, Spanish Bayonet and Adam's needle.

If you have children or pets it may not be a good idea to grow yucca plants in the garden, as they have razor sharp leaves that can easily hurt people and animals.

How to Grow Yucca Plants

Yucca plants (and their shrub varieties) can be grown both indoors and out. Bigger varieties are planted outdoors whilst smaller ones can occupy spaces indoors and easily be grown in containers.

Grow in indirect light close to a South facing window (1.5 m, 5 feet distance).

If you have an East facing window then place them on the window shelf so that they get the morning light. Or if they receive late evening light from a west facing window place them about 50 to 80 cm (1.5 to 2.5 feet) away.

They can also be planted in pots and containers as well as in garden beds, depending on what space is available to the gardener and on the local weather conditions.

Many people enjoy growing yucca plants indoors because they are low maintenance and have the ability to clean the air. They are also used as decorations to enhance a home and perhaps give it a Southwestern USA theme.

Some species, such as Yucca elephantipes, can have spreads of well over 6 m (about 20 feet). Photograph by Wallygrom.

Best Location to plant Yucca and Ideal Soil Conditions

Choose a location that has access to full sun. Although Yuccas can tolerate partial shade, they grow best under full sunlight.

The soil should be somewhat dry and well-drained as the roots of Yuccas rot easily in wet soil.

How to Grow Yucca Plants from Seed

• If you want to grow Yucca tree from seed then it is best to first start indoors.
• Yucca seeds take anything from one month to one year to germinate, and are best sown at the end of winter.
• Germinate Yucca at 18 to 25 degrees centigrade (65 to 77°F) and initially grow them indoors for about three years.

• It is best to keep Yucca indoors in a safe place if you have children or pets, but if required in the garden then transplant them outdoors a few weeks after the last chance of any frost in the spring.

How to Grow Yucca Outdoors

• It is probably easiest to purchase plants from a garden Center or to plant Yucca from cuttings or offsets.
• Depending on the species, space at 45 to 60 cm apart (18 to 24 inches — small), 60 cm to 90 cm (24 to 36 inches — medium), or up to 1.2 meters (4 feet) apart or in isolation for larger varieties.
• Ideally they should be grown in a sunny area that has a poor soil with excellent drainage, and a pH of 5.5 to 7.5.

Soil Preparation for Raised Beds

If you plant to use raised beds then be aware that outdoor Yucca Plant planting for most species requires well-drained raised beds.

Although some varieties can be grown unprotected, some beds need to be protected against winter moisture.

Species that can be grown in unprotected beds include Yucca glauca, Yucca filamentosa, Yucca 'Karlsruhensis', Yucca flaccida, Yucca angustissima ssp. kanabensis, and several hybrids such as Yucca 'Hybrid No. 1402' and 'Hybrid No. 500'.

The constructed beds must be raised so as to lean towards the sun, so that the plants get as much light as possible.

The usage of granite boulders is advisable to help raise the bed above the subsoil.

There should be a 17 to 40 cm (7 to 16 inches) layer of granite stones in the bottom of the beds, and 5 cm (two inches) layer of gravel on top of this.

Use a 2.5 to 5 cm (one to two inches) layer of 1 cm (½ inch) sized granite chippings to top dress, as this can help keep the root neck dry.

Planting Yucca

After digging a hole with the use of shovel to inspect the soil type, add small pebbled gravel or sand to implement the soil where the yucca is about to be planted.

To do this, dig a hole that is twice as deep and wide as the root ball of the yucca plant.

Put the extracted soil into a huge container or bucket, and add gravel or sand to the soil to make the planting bed 50 percent gravel/sand and 50 percent soil.

Placing some organic matter is beneficial; add more gravel or sand mixture if the soil has a heavy clay base to increase the drainage.

Place (5 to 8 cm (two to three inches) of the soil mixture into the bottom of the hole, and put the root ball of the Yucca plant on top of it.

Ensure that the plant is straight and centered. Fill in around the root ball with the remaining soil mixture until it reaches the soil surface level.

Gently press the soil to release any pockets of air. Sprinkle light water on the plant. Additional water can be added two to three weeks after planting.

Growing in Pots and Containers

Yuccas are not overly fond of pot cultivation, but they are usually fine when large pots are used.

Use a three liter rose pot for a young seedling up to three years of age. For older plants, use ten liter pots or bigger.

Make sure the growing spot is located to have access to full sun, as Yuccas planted indoors with limited light and root run often have a dwarfish look. Though this look is actually a desirable one for some indoor yucca species.

The following video provides useful advice on cultivating Yucca plant

Yucca Plant Care and Pruning

Warning: As they have very sharp foliage ensure that you wear protective chain mail or very tough gloves when doing any pruning or removal of yucca plants as they can easily cut off a finger!

How to Care for a Yucca plant

• Outdoor Yucca plant care: Plants prefer dry soil that has full access to the sun. Avoid over-watering the plant as this can cause rotting of the roots.
• Cut off all the dead leaves in order to keep the plant neat. Make sure to wear heavy gloves to prevent the leaves from cutting your hands.
• Yuccas are not fond of being transplanted, so make sure that you will choose the right location before planting them.
• A once a year feeding is sufficient as Yuccas survive well in areas of low nutrients and are light eaters.

Pruning Tips

• Similar to many other plants, Yuccas are best pruned right before they enter the growth period, which is usually in early spring, though this period can be extended to the beginning of summer.
• Cutting off the flower stalks after the blooms have faded is also necessary to ensure a tidy appearance.
• With the use of sharp cutters or pruning shears, cut the stalk off at about 7 to 10 cm (three to four inches) above where the stalk had emerged from the main stem.
• Make sure that the plant receives a lot of light when it is recovering.

Care For Potted Yucca Houseplants

Yucca plant care indoors: make sure that the plant has sufficient access to intense light. Use heavy pots as Yuccas tend to be heavy in both their stem and foliage.

When watering, simply sprinkle water on the top of the plant if the soil feels dry.

Although yuccas do not prefer to be watered heavily, drought or lack of water can cause the leaves to turn brown or yellow. Other than pruning a Yucca plant it pretty much cares after itself.

Houseplants may require a low-nitrogen fertilizer a couple of times per year.

When grown outdoors, apply a time-release fertilizer in a circle around where you expect the yucca tree roots to be.

It is important to tidy plants regularly.

Propagate Yucca Plant from Cuttings

When propagating it is important to use mature tissue (in order to prevent yucca root rot), and to perform the propagation in the spring.

Cut off the leafy top after marking the trunk, remove all of the upper leaves, and then plant the trunk in potting soil with the end that formerly had the leaves pointing up.

Now relocate the pot to a shady area. The trunk is expected to have rooted itself within two to three weeks of planting, and will start to produce new leaves.

Troubleshooting Problems - Pests and Diseases

After a wet warm winter, rust fungus can occur. This can be prevented by protecting the plants against heavy winter moisture with the use of a sheet of glass.

Slugs and snails can wreak havoc on Yucca seedlings. Use common insecticide to get rid of these pests.

Red-orange spores or lesions of the leaves are indications of a fungal disease. The infected leaves must be removed immediately in order to prevent further spreading.

Speckling on the leaves, as well as gray webs, are signs of spotted mites. In order to control this infestation, use insecticidal soaps and prune dead leaves off the plant.

Types of Yucca Plant, Easy Identification - Yucca Plant Pictures and Images

Yucca baccata: Banana Yucca

Yucca baccata - Yucca Plant pictures by Drew Avery; CC.

Yucca baccata is also known as the Banana Yucca due to the shape of its fruits; these can be eaten and baked like a sweet potato. “Datil yucca” is the other term for this variant in some locations, as the plant has some resemblance to an Agave.

Blooming Yucca baccata flowers, photograph by brewbooks; CC.

It has shorter trunk and bluer or more glacous foliage compared to other yuccas such as the Mojave yucca. It grows five feet and up in dry soil and full sun. Purple and off-white flowers will start to appear from mid-April to July.

Yucca carnerosana: Giant Spanish Dagger

Yucca carnerosana, Giant Spanish Dagger image by Roberto González; CC.

The Yucca carnerosana (Yucca faxoniana) species can grow 12 feet (4 m) tall by six feet (2 m) wide, and is native in Mexico and Texas.

It grows in part shade and full sun in zones 8a to 11, although gardeners from zone 6 particularly in Denver, CO are reported to be growing yucca there successfully.

They produce white flowers that will turn into a pretty shade of pink in mid to late spring when the plant blooms.

Yucca glauca: Small soapweed, Great Plains yucca

Yucca glauca photograph by James St. John; CC.

Yucca glauca produces gray to green leaves that form two foot mounds across the dry South-western part of the United States. This variety requires a dry climate and sandy soil in order to bloom.

Flower stalks shoot will start to appear in early summer from the plant’s crown. Each stalk can produce up to 15 aromatic, greenish white flowers. The crown of the plant will die after blooming.

Yucca pallida: Pale yucca

Yucca pallida images by Royce Milam; CC.

The Yucca pallida species is alternatively referred to as the Pale yucca due to its gray-green or blue-green leaves that form a rosette one or two inches (3 to 5 cm) tall. It is natively grown in Texas.

The Pale-leaf yucca can tolerate partial shade and full sun, and its white flowers will start to appear in mid-summer. These are held on upright stalks a couple of inches (5 cm) from the leaf tips.

Yucca rigida: Blue yucca, Palmilla

Yucca rigida photograph by 阿橋 HQ; CC.

Yucca rigida is a beautiful Yucca palm that is also called as Blue yucca or Palmilla because of its striking blue-gray leaves; these go well with its creamy yellow flower clusters.

It is known to be enduring of zones eight to ten, and has also been reported as surviving the Phoenix, Arizona winters. The branching canes of Yucca rigida can grow up to 15 feet tall and six feet wide (4.5 m X 1.8 m).

Yucca rostrata: Beaked Yucca

Beaked Blue Yucca (Yucca rostrata) photograph by Puddin Tain; CC.

Yucca rostrata. Another type of beautiful blue yucca, which is commonly called the Blue Beaked yucca plant or the Beaked Blue Yucca.

It can be grown in cold places — even in zone 5. It has even been recorded in New York State, and is one of the most cold hardy amongst the Yucca species.

Yucca rupicola: Twisted-leaf yucca, Texas Yucca

Yucca rupicola, Twist leaf Yucca, image by smallcurio; CC.

Yucca rupicola is a fascinating type of Yucca plant as its leaves are unique from that of other yucca leaves. These leaves are dark green in colour; strap shaped, two inches (5 cm) wide, and form rosettes not greater than two feet (60 cm) tall.

It is also termed as the Twisted-leaf yucca due to the ability of its leaves to twist with age.

Yucca rupicola features red or white edges as well as curly white hairs, which are yuccan fiber. It can grow in partial shade and full sunlight and is native in Texas.

Yucca schidigera: Mojave yucca, Spanish Dagger

Yucca schidigera photograph by Joshua Tree National Park; CC.

Yucca schidigera is known as Mojave yucca, this can basically be classes as a yucca tree as it can easily reach 5 m (16 feet) in height.

Another of its common names is the Spanish Dagger, named because of the sharpness of the tips of its yellow-green leaves.

Its heavy canes can reach around six to 12 inches (15 to 30 cm) when the plant matures, and will produce white flowers with a purple tinge. Yucca schidigera should be planted well away from foot traffic.

It is closely related with Yucca baccata, and hybridizes freely with it; they both inhibit the same range. Yucca schidigera is native to the Sonoran and Mojave deserts of Arizona, Nevada, and California.

Yucca gigantea: Giant Yucca

Yucca gigantea photograph by Jungle Rebel; CC.

Yucca gigantea is also known under the synonyms of Yucca elephantipes and Yucca guatemalensis. This is the tallest of the yuccas and can reach heights of 30 feet (9 m).

It is commonly referred to as the Giant, Spineless, or Soft-tip Yucca. It blooms with white flowers in the summer. The Yucca elephantipes type plants are drought-tolerant and often grown indoors as house-plants when they are young.

Further Pages on Yuccas on Gardener's HQ

In addition to the Yucca plant types listed above you may also be interested in the following species specific growing guide pages:

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       Yucca aloifolia   |   Spanish bayonet

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       Yucca baccata   |   Banana yucca

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       Yucca brevifolia   |   Joshua tree

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       Yucca elata   |   Soap tree

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       Yucca elephantipes   |   Spineless yucca

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       Yucca filamentosa   |   Adam's needle and thread

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       Yucca filamentosa Bright Edge   |   Needle palm 'Bright Edge'

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       Yucca filamentosa Color Guard   |   Adam's needle

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       Yucca glauca   |   Small soapweed

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       Yucca gloriosa   |   Spanish dagger

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       Yucca recurvifolia   |   Pendulous

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       Yucca rostrata   |   Beaked yucca

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       Yucca schidigera   |   Palmilla

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       Yucca thompsoniana   |   Thompson's yucca

Yucca - An In-depth Look and Full Indoors and Out Growing and Care Guide

Plants have large, stiff, and sword like rosette leaves, are a genus of perennial trees and shrubs from the family Asparagaceae, and are contained within the subfamily Agavoideae.

Yucca angustissima - Narrow Leaf Yucca Plant by brewbooks.

Yucca Distribution

Plants are native to the dry and hot parts of South, Central and North America, and to the Caribbean.

They are currently one of the main gardening trends in the United Kingdom when it comes to landscaping and home garden plants.

There are nine species and 24 subspecies of Yucca, and their distribution covers a vast area of Central and North America.

Yuccas have adapted to a vast range of ecological and climatic conditions, as is demonstrated by its distributional spread from the Gulf of Mexico to the drier central states such in Alberta in Canada, and through to the inland neighboring states and the Atlantic coastal.

Plants are found in badlands and rocky deserts, in grassland and prairies, in light woodland, in mountainous regions, in semi-temperate and subtropical zones, and even in coastal sands (Yucca filamentosa); though these areas are generally arid to semi-arid.

Photograph by Terren in Virginia.

Yucca Plant Uses

So Just What are Yucca Plants Used For?

• Yuccas are generally known as ornamental plants in gardens.
• There are also several yucca species that bear edible parts, such as their flowers, Young flower stalk, and flowering stem, seeds, fruits and roots.
• The use of yucca roots as food often comes from the confusion with the same spelled, yet unrelated to yucca botanically, Manihot esculenta plant, commonly known as Cassava.

• That said there are many yucca plant uses, for example: the roots of Yucca elata (soaptree yucca), are rich in saponins and are used in Native American rituals as a shampoo.
• Trunk fibers and dried yucca leaves makes the plant perfect for use in fires that are started through fiction, as they have a low ignition temperature.
• Species such as Yucca filamentosa, in rural Appalachian areas, are coined as “meat hangers”, as its sharp spiny tips and tough fibrous leaves are used in puncturing meat, as well as knotted in order to form a loop wherein meat can be hung in smoking houses, or for salt curing.

Yucca Pollination and its Relationship with Moths and Butterflies

The mutualistic pollination system of Yuccas is very specialized, as they are pollinated by the Yucca moths from the family Prodoxidae.

Yucca moths will transfer the pollen purposely from the stamen of one plant to the stigma of another plant, whilst laying eggs in the flower at the same time.

The moth larva will then feed on some of the developing seeds; there are more than enough seeds left to perpetuate the species.

Different species of Yucca serve as host plants for the caterpillar of the Ursine Giant-Skipper (Megathymus ursus), Yucca Giant-Skipper (Megathymus yuccae), and Strecker's Giant-Skipper (Megathymus streckeri).

Prodoxus decipiens Bogus Yucca Moth photograph by Andy Reago & Chrissy McClarren, CC.

See this page for information on growing butterfly garden plants.

Further Reading and References

Wikipedia; Ask the Gardener; Utah State Extension; Yucca Plant and Moth Interactions.

Common Questions

How many members does the Yucca genus have?

The Yucca genus comprises about 40-50 species known for their rosettes of evergreen, tough, sword-shaped leaves and large terminal panicles of white flowers.

Do members of Yucca make a good garden or landscaping plant?

Yes, Yucca is often grown for its striking foliage and architectural form. It's a great choice for xeriscaping or low-maintenance gardens.

Which Yucca species are most frequently grown by gardeners?

Yucca filamentosa (Adam's Needle) and Yucca gloriosa (Spanish Dagger) are popular choices among gardeners.

Are members of the Yucca plant genus fragrant?

Yes, many Yucca species produce fragrant flowers, particularly noticeable in the evening.

What is the perfect location to grow Yucca plants?

Yucca thrives in full sun with well-drained soil. It's excellent for xeriscaping or low-maintenance, drought-tolerant gardens.

Is the Yucca invasive in the USA?

Currently, Yucca is not listed as invasive in the USA (Many species are native). Always refer to local regulations for accurate information.

How do I remove Yucca plants from my garden?

Removing Yucca can be challenging due to its deep roots. Cut back the plant and dig out the root system, wearing gloves to protect against sharp leaves.

Summary

Yucca plant is a genus in the Asparagaceae family. It comprises around 40-50 species of perennial shrubs and trees native to the arid regions of the Americas and the Caribbean.

Yucca plants prefer full sun and well-drained, sandy soil. It can be grown from seeds or cuttings and should be planted in spring. Known for its distinctive sword-like leaves and tall spikes of white or purplish flowers, it's often used in xeriscaping.

I hope that you enjoyed this guide on how to grow Yucca plants. You may enjoy some of these growing guides too: How to grow Chrysanthemum, California Redbud, and Mesembryanthemum plants.