PlantFiles: Curve Leaf Yucca, Pendulous Yucca, Weeping Yucca, Spanish Dagger, Moundlily Yucca, Soft Tipped Yucca
Yucca gloriosa

This plant is impossible to get rid of once its in the ground. We moved into a new house and inherited about 30 of these. I have tried digging them out, poisoning them, nothing works. If a tiny shred of root remains, it will sprout a new plant. This is the bane of my yard!

I always wanted some of these and we moved by the lake and now I wished that I had never seen them.

They are growing all around us and in the yard and are so hard to get rid of.

I am afraid that my dogs will run into the sharp ends and they will put their eyes out.

I have been transplanting this plant for 3 years (on Cape Cod, Ma) since it came up in some garden loam brought in for a new lawn. The original spot keeps sending up new babies and this year it has an awesome flower bud about to open. It has grown primarily in moist shade (go figure) and the flower casing appears red.
Karin

An evergreenshrub or small tree with a stout, unbranched trunk. The sword-like leaves lend it the common name.

The leaves are broadest toward the middle flat, or grooved toward the tip, thick and stiff, rough beneath, edges without teeth. Sometimes sporting a few threads and ending in a sharp point.

The trunk is light gray and smooth, the upper part is covered by dead leaves.

The white or cream colored flowers are 1 1/2" to 2" long and bell shaped in showy branched clusters. Blooms in Autumn.

The Spanish Dagger grows so fast here in Nevada. I have replanted babies about every 3 months and all plants are doing well. I water once or twice a week. The plant doesn't require alot of care and grows anywhere I put it.

Dug up a small (18" tall) Spanish dagger plant about 2 years ago in South Texas and have it growing in a pot here in humid East Texas. Also, picked up seed pods from flowers of nearby more mature dagger plants and brought them home. What turned out to be some 150 seeds were planted just to see if any would come up. About 98% of them came up and have survived two hot summers and winter temps. into the high teens (with no care, except rain water and an occasional watering). The dagger plants seem to be slow growing. The dug up plant, after 2 years, has put on a few new leaves or so and appears healthy, but has not gotten noteable larger, so far. It is hoped a bloom will arrive this year.

Parent plant usually dies after flowering, with offsets taking over. Here in edge of zone 7 (almost 6) it can become almost invasive. If dug. any portion of root will grow new plant, usually blooming size within a year or two.

This Yucca is growing successfully in Zone 5-5a in Halifax Nova Scotia. It makes "babies", much like hens/chicks do. Just break them off for new plants. After starting a new plant from a "baby", it takes about 4 years to grow to full size and produce it's first bloom -- but it's worth the wait. In the meantime, it is a good looking "green" sharp plant, with attractive features. In our Zone, in Winter, I shread a lot of leaves and pile them up burying the plant in the leaf material. I just simply move the shredded leaves aside in spring and let them finish decomposing into the ground around the yucca.