JULY : Beaked yucca : Yucca rostrata

Photo: Tracy Neal

Scientific name: Yucca rostrata

Plant Family: Agavaceae

Common name: Beaked yucca

by Susan Bruneni

The magnificent Yucca rostrata will greet visitors entering the new Botanical Garden from numerous spots in the Welcome Garden and the Dry Garden. This dramatic yucca eventually reaches heights up to 12 feet, with a burst of long blue-green leaves atop the trunk.

Yucca rostrata is not native to Santa Fe, but is included in a grouping of plants from lower desert areas that now find themselves at home in our changing climate. Yucca rostrata, or beaked yucca, is native to west Texas (Big Bend area) and northern Mexico directly south of Big Bend. It is able to tolerate extreme heat, cold, and drought conditions.  It has long, thin, blue-green leaves which spread from a symmetrical rosette and produces a cluster of white to pale yellow  flowers once a year. Through the efforts of Ron Gass at Mountain States Nursery, this plant is now becoming more available to discriminating landscape designers and homeowners.