Replacing a turf grass lawn with yuccas and other drought-tolerant plants is one way to boost your home’s curb appeal while reducing the quantity of water you use for landscaping. Yuccas are low-maintenance members of the Lily family members and famous for their spine-tipped, lancelike leaves which provide interesting form and texture year old. Pick from low-growing yucca specimens, like Twisted-Leaf (Yucca rupicola) and Banana (Yucca baccata), or treelike yuccas, including Spanish Dagger (Yucca faxoniana) and California native Joshua tree (Yucca brevifolia).
Transplants
The best time to get yucca transplants in the ground is when the average minimum air temperature remains above 50 degrees Fahrenheit and the ground has started to warm. Planting at the time makes it possible for origins shocked or damaged through the planting procedure to regenerate and the yuccas to acclimate to your landscape. Supplement fog and rain moisture if required during the initial year, letting the plants dry out between watering sessions to boost successful transplantation.
Seeds
After flowering, yuccas produce pods featuring a number of flat, dark seeds. If the pods dry and are about to split open, remove them from the flower stalks, and remove their seeds. Store the seeds in moist sand in a refrigerator if you wish to plant them outside the following spring, or start the seeds indoors immediately in pots in a sunny window. By keeping the soil moist while the seeds germinate, which may occur at intervals from two weeks to six months, your seedlings can be ready to link your landscape the following spring or summer.
Offshoots, Rhizomes and Cuttings
Several yuccas create offshoots which can be removed from the parent plants to put elsewhere or left in place to make a stunning grouping. The best time to split yuccas or create new plants from rhizome or stem cuttings is in the start of the growing season; however, yuccas’ hardiness makes planting success potential year-round in most of their growing zones, which can be U.S. Department of Agriculture plant hardiness zones 6 through 11.
Tips for Successful Planting
Yuccas prefer full sunlight and well-drained, loose soil. Although most species tolerate vibrant or partial shade and some adapt to heavier soil, improve your success rate by mixing crushed granite, sand or perlite into heavy clay soil in the planting hole. Overwatering is a yucca’s worst enemy, particularly once it is established. Keep mulch from covering each yucca plant’s crown, and then make sure water drains away from the plants. Apart from low-water, or xeric, plants include “yucca” in their common name since their appearance, planting and care resemble that of authentic yuccas. For instance, the common name for hesperaloe parviflora is red yucca or coral yucca.