Common Name: Spanish dagger
Type: Broadleaf evergreen
Family: Asparagaceae
Zone: 6 to 10
Height: 2.00 to 4.00 feet
Spread: 2.00 to 4.00 feet
Bloom Time: July to August
Bloom Description: Creamy white
Sun: Full sun
Water: Dry to medium
Maintenance: Low
Flower: Showy
Leaf: Colorful, Evergreen
Attracts: Butterflies
Tolerate: Rabbit, Deer, Drought, Erosion, Air Pollution
Culture
Easily grown in dry to medium, well-drained soils in full sun. Tolerant of poor, dry, sandy soils.
Noteworthy Characteristics
Yucca gloriosa, commonly called Spanish dagger or yucca, is an evergreen shrub or small tree (though it looks somewhat more like an herbaceous perennial in its early years) that is native to coastal plains, dunes and sandy woods from North Carolina to Florida. It is a single stemmed plant (2-8’ tall) that is densely covered with sword-shaped, spine-tipped blue green leaves (to 30” long and to 3” wide). Leaves originally appear as a mounded basal clump, but after several years the stem or trunk develops, typically growing to a mature height of 5’ and lifting the leaf clump off the ground. Creamy white, nodding, bell-shaped flowers appear in a dense, massive, upright, terminal panicle in summer. Fruits are elliptical dehiscent capsules.
Genus name comes from the Carbi name for manihot, also called cassava or yuca, which is not closely related but has similarly enlarged root structures.
Specific epithet means splendid or glorious.
‘Variegata’ is a compact form of the species that features variegated foliage. It typically grows in a clump to 4’ tall. Flowers in early summer. Variegated leaves are blue green with gold changing to white margins.
Problems
No serious insect or disease problems.
Uses
Borders. Foundations. Dry garden areas. Dry slopes.