Yucca rostrata (Beaked Yucca)

Wonderful thing. Narrow blue leaves and an almost hemispherical head. They can form quite a tall trunk even in Britain – to 6ft after many years (40?). These come from dryer areas than our other (non-desert) yuccas and need pretty sharp drainage and lots of sun. Remove old and dead leaves if you like that ‘look’. Despite their arid provenance, they seem less prone to black fungal spots than our other yuccas and also, appear not to branch after flowering. In those two respects they seem to have more in common with Dasylirion. The flower is a huge white spike as on all the yuccas. Remove with secateurs as soon as the flowers fade.

Native to south-western U.S.A. and northern Mexico. Propagated by seed and grown in Italy.

N.B. When clipping several plants with the same tool, have a bucket containing a 5% bleach solution and swish your blades around for 30 seconds between plants to sterilise them. This will help avoid the chance of cross contamination of disease.

As with all woody plants, plant high, exposing as much of the taper at the base of the trunk as possible. Allowing soil to accumulate round the base of a tree can be fatal. Keep very well watered when first planted.

Hardiness level Amber

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IF IT HAS A AMBER TRAFFIC LIGHT

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Hardy in the Home Counties if sensibly sited (avoiding severe frost pockets, for example). Many Amber Labelled Plants are from cuttings from well-established plants that have survived many harsh winters in the South-East.

This is only meant as a guide. Please remember we're always on hand to give advice about plants and their frost hardiness.

Please remember that these coloured labels are only a rough guide.

General Point about Plant Hardiness: The commonly held belief that it's better to 'plant small' is perfectly true with herbaceous plants, but not necessarily true with woody plants. They need some 'wood' on them to survive severe cold - so plants of marginal hardiness in very cold areas should really be planted LARGER, rather than smaller, wherever possible.