Yucca rostrata is excellent choice for a drought tolerant landscape and or low water , low maintenance landscape design. It has silver blue foliage and forms a trunk as it matures. It is a great standalone specimen plant as well as looks architecturally defined and planted in mass. Often paired with agaves and other yuccas, the Yucca rostrata is very versatile. When designing your landscape, make sure to pair with the same water requirements to create the perfect xeriscape setting.
Yucca rostrata
To create a softer look, plant it alongside perennials.
The various Salvias and ice plants are a common pairing as well as low groundcovers like the Silver Ponyfoot and the Ice Plant. The addition of the perennials adds color as well as movement to the setting. You can vary the heights in your design with larger plants Tecoma stans/ Esperanza or the ‘Bells of Fire’ Tecoma. If you are looking to lower perennials, there are several options to choose from such as the Skullcap or the Salvia greggii. The photo above shows the Yucca planted with Ice Plant, Tecoma, Santa Rita Cactus, and the Giant Yucca.
The Yucca rostrata is a tough plant, able to survive the Texas heat as well as the historic Texas snow in 2021. For optimum planting, plant in well-drained soil and or decomposed granite and water sparingly. The photo below shows a Yucca covered in snow in Austin, Texas, the snowstorm in 2021.
Yucca rostrata covered in snow.
Sometimes referred to as the Beaked Yucca, it is a wonderful Texas native choice when designing your landscape. You can choose to trim it to expose the trunk, or you can leave the skirt. Either way you choose to trim or not trim the spherical shape is a beautiful accent to just about any landscape.
