Dasylirion wheeleriDesert Spoon

The Dasylirion wheeleri, commonly known as the Desert Spoon or Sotol, is an evergreen rosette plant from the Chihuahuan and Sonoran deserts. Hundreds of narrow, blue-grey, saw-toothed leaves radiate from a short woody trunk to form a near-perfect sphere, each leaf ending in a fine fibrous brush.

It is a slow, architectural plant that needs no shaping and holds its geometry through the worst of the summer. Specifiers use it in gravel gardens, courtyards and lit planters where a strong, static form is wanted at low level.

Specifications

• Height1 to 1.5 metres as a rosette, with a flower spike to 5 metres when mature
• Width1.5 to 2 metres
• Native toThe south western United States and northern Mexico
• FoliageNarrow blue-grey leaves to one metre long, edged with fine curved teeth and tipped with a fibrous brush; evergreen
• Growth rateVery slow

Conditions

• SoilRequires sharply drained sandy, gravelly or rocky soils; will rot in heavy or poorly drained ground
• LightFull sun
• WaterVery low; strongly drought-tolerant and easily killed by overwatering
• ClimateThrives in hot arid and semi-arid regions and is notably cold-hardy for a desert rosette plant

Additional Features

• FormDense spherical rosette on a short trunk, holding a precise geometry with no pruning
• UsesGravel and xeriscape gardens, courtyard and podium planters, median and roundabout accents, lit feature planting
• SpacingPlant 1.5 to 2 metres apart so each rosette is read as an individual form
• Low MaintenanceRemove only the spent flower spike and any dead lower leaves; never trim the leaf tips
• Pest ResistanceVery few pest or disease problems where drainage is sharp
• Drought ToleranceExceptionally drought-tolerant, holding condition through long rainless periods
• Frost ToleranceTolerates frost well below the range of most desert rosette plants
• Seasonal AppealMature plants throw a tall narrow flower spike of small cream flowers in summer

The Desert Spoon gives an exact architectural form on almost no water, and it is one of the few feature plants that looks the same in August as it does in March.