Yucca gloriosaSpanish Dagger

Yucca gloriosa holds stiff, sword-shaped blue-green leaves in dense rosettes on a short trunk, and it holds them without irrigation, in sand, in salt wind and in reflected heat off paving. That combination is why the Spanish Dagger has become a fixture of coastal and arid architectural planting.

In late summer a mature rosette throws a heavy panicle of pendulous cream bells well above the foliage, and older plants branch into multi-headed clumps that read almost as sculpture.

Specifications

• Height2 to 2.5 metres, reaching 4 to 5 metres on older trunked specimens
• Width1.5 to 2 metres
• Native toCoastal dunes of the south eastern United States
• FoliageStiff, sword-shaped blue-green leaves with sharp tips, in dense rosettes; evergreen
• Growth rateSlow

Conditions

• SoilRequires sharply drained sandy soil; tolerates poor, stony and saline ground
• LightFull sun
• WaterVery low; strongly drought-tolerant and damaged by wet feet
• ClimateThrives in arid, coastal, Mediterranean and subtropical regions and is hardy well below freezing

Additional Features

• FlowersTall panicles of pendulous creamy white bells in late summer and autumn
• UsesArchitectural accents, coastal and dune planting, xeriscape and gravel schemes, medians and raised planters
• SpacingPlant 1.5 to 2 metres apart for a mass, or singly as an accent
• Low MaintenanceRemove spent flower spikes and old lower leaves; no irrigation once established
• Pest ResistanceUntroubled in a free-draining position
• Salt ToleranceA dune species by origin, comfortable in direct salt-laden wind
• Drought ToleranceFully drought adapted; the risk in a scheme is overwatering
• FormDense rosettes on short trunks, branching into multi-headed clumps with age

The Spanish Dagger is one of the toughest architectural plants available, holding form on coastal and desert sites with effectively no irrigation.