Pronounciation: YUK-ka a-lo-i-FOL-ee-a

Hardiness zones
Sunset 7-24
USDA 7-11

Landscape Use: Background, textural accent, container plant, Spanish or Mediterranean architecture.

Form & Character: Clean, but foreboding, clumping, very stiff, upright, rigid, not people friendly.

Growth Habit: Evergreen, fibrous, monocot perennial shrub, slow growth rate, single trunk (with training) to clumping to 15-feet tall, but can be maintained at much lower height and is generally much smaller in Phoenix.

Foliage/Texture: Strap leaves to 2.5-feet long, rigid, very sharp pointed and DANGEROUS! Closely set on stems, margins denticulate but not thread bearing; medium coarse texture.

Flowers & Fruits: Extended panicles to 2 feet of cream white flowers, sometimes tinged with purple to 4-inches across, fruit are not that cool looking.

Seasonal Color: Crem white flowers on tall stalks during late April through mid June.

Temperature: Heat tolerant, cold hardy to 10^oF.

Light: In Phoenix, shade from western sun is preferred.

Soil: Tolerant

Watering: Spanish bayonet is more drought tolerant that Yucca gloriosa or Yucca recurvifolia, but will still need regular supplemental water especially during summer months.

Pruning: Remove old flower stalks.

Propagation: Seed, cuttings (very easy to root), division.

Disease and Pests: Spider mites

Additional comments: Spanish bayonet is a stately yucca for those Mediterannean or Spanish type landscape designs. It is quite dangerous due to its stiff and pointed foliage and as such must not be planted in close proximity to human foot traffic (walkways, paths, patios, etc.). There are several variegated cultivars that are not commonly seen in Phoenix. In general, Spanish bayonet is somewhat more tolerant of full sun in Phoenix than Spanish dagger, but neither are desert plants.