We are in our Southwest mode and have embraced the structural beauty of the North American native perennial woody lilies, agave and yucca. We have gone yucca crazy with a wonderful selection of hard-to-find species as well as an array of variegated foliage forms...I hope you are as yucca crazy as we are!
Read More about Yucca
Yucca plants are incredibly architectural with their straight, spiny leaves that radiate out from a single point. Some yucca plants have a short trunk and look like a miniature palm tree. They all form a beautiful rosette of deer-resistant leaves that may be green, yellow, blue or variegated. Yucca also are topped by a beautiful spike of large white flowers that attract butterflies and hummingbirds. Some yucca plants flower every year and others are monocarpic...after several years of not flowering, they flower once and then die.
Most yucca plants can tolerate drought but cannot tolerate heavy, wet soils, especially in winter. When you are ready to buy yucca plants for your perennial garden, we hope you'll check out our online list of yucca plants for sale below.
Since 1988, Plant Delights Nursery has been the choice of serious gardeners and plant collectors looking for the best and rarest perennial plants. We are pleased to have received the Perennial Plant Association Retail Award in 2011, the American Horticulture Society Commercial Award in 2002, and to have been selected as one of the Best Mail Order Plant Sources - Garden Design Magazine 2010. Welcome to our family of plant lovers!
We love this splendid variegated selection of our Southeast US native, the deer-resistant Yucca aloifolia. This has long been one of our favorite garden plants; however, propagation difficulties had limited our offering of this gem...but not any more. Each 6" thick trunk can reach 7' tall and is adorned with rigid bayonet-like leaves of medium green, surrounded by a bicolor margin of light green and edged in creamy yellow. When plants of Yucca aloifolia 'Variegata' reach 3-4' tall, they are topped with 2' tall flower plumes of white bells in early summer...simply stunning and a hummingbird treat! Although it handled -9 degrees F in 1984/85, it seems to dislike extended periods at or below 0 degrees F. Pot Size: 3.5" (24 fl. oz/709.77 ml)
Similar to Yucca glauca, Yucca constricta makes a 3' wide rosette of very narrow, glaucous-green leaves with what appears to be a white border. With age, Yucca constricta will develop a short 2' trunk. In late spring, the clumps are topped with a dramatic 6' tall flowering spike of white bell-shaped flowers...a beautiful accent plant and hummingbird fiesta. This Yucca Do collection of Yucca constricta comes from Real County, Texas, so I guess when it flowers, you'll have a Real-ity show...sorry, it's really late at night and I've polished off far too many glasses of chocolate milk to be vaguely coherent. Pot Size: 3.5" (24 fl. oz/709.77 ml)
This deer-resistant, hummingbird friendly yucca hails from the San Luis Potosi region of Mexico where it can be found growing up to 8,000' elevation. Yucca decipiens is painful...make that also painfully slow growing. With age, (yours and your grandkids') Yucca decipiens will make a massive 30' tall, candelabra-like branched, single trunk specimen. The 2' long x 2" wide stiff, olive green, bayonet-like leaves are often edged with thread-like filifers...great for turf wars, frog-gigging, and when you just can't find a thumb tack. Expect a 3' tall plant in 10 years and a 15' tall plant in your lifetime. Pot Size: 3.5" (24 fl. oz/709.77 ml)
This fabulous yucca selection was brought into the US from Japan by hosta guru Paul Aden. This is the best gold-centered variegated yucca on the market. The growth habit is similar to Yucca 'Golden Sword', except that the center coloration brightens to a creamy-gold in midsummer, when others begin to fade. The deer-resistant foliage is also covered in hundreds of curly white hairs, which can be shaved off if the lack of grooming bothers you. Dan Hinkley, founder of Heronswood, rates this among his Top 10 most indispensable plants! Each 3' wide clump is topped with 6' stalks of white, hummingbird-attracting flowers in spring...AWESOME! Pot Size: 3.5" (24 fl. oz/709.77 ml)
It's a rare occasion when a variegated plant sports green and actually becomes a better garden plant, but that is exactly what happened with Yucca 'Lone Star'. This green reversion of the deer-resistant Yucca 'Tiny Star' has dazzled both us and visitors with what is unquestionably the best green yucca in our extensive collection. The longer we grow this, the more we think this might actually be a Yucca gloriosa hybrid. Yucca 'Lone Star' makes a 4' tall x 4' wide specimen in 4 years, with 2' long x 3.5" wide leaves that radiate out from a thick central stalk. In late summer the clumps are topped with 3' tall spikes of large, hanging, white, bell-shaped flowers...simply stunning and a hummingbird delight. Pot Size: 3.5" (24 fl. oz/709.77 ml)
(syn: Yucca sp. 68-2) This cute little yucca is a slow growing selection of the Southeast US native Yucca gloriosa, first brought into the US from Japan by plant explorer Barry Yinger in the '70s. This tiny yucca has labored in obscurity, due to its very slow growth habit. Our 15-year-old clump of Yucca 'Tiny Star' has finally reached 10" tall x 2' wide, and has never formed an offset. Each leaf is mostly creamy gold, edged in a narrow green band. Although it must eventually flower, no one has ever observed the blessed event. If you have been looking for a nice evergreen yucca in proportion to other small rock garden plants, your prayers have been answered! Pot Size: 3.5" (24 fl. oz/709.77 ml)
We have grown this wonderful deer-resistant yucca...originally from the JC Raulston Arboretum, for years. Each 2-3' wide, trunked clump reaches 48" in height in 10 years. The blue-green, rigid leaves are bordered with a wide margin that emerges gold, then changes to a rich cream. The good color contrast holds all season! In midsummer, this stunning yucca is topped with 3' tall spikes with attractive, large, white, bell-shaped flowers...a hummingbird favorite. Yucca gloriosa 'Variegata' is a great addition to the perennial border and deserves a special place in the dry garden! Pot Size: 3.5" (24 fl. oz/709.77 ml)
Another bizarre plant name...sounds like time for a revolt! Yucca 'Walbristar' is one of the most unusual new yuccas to hit the market. It was discovered by Tim Crowder as a sport of the southeast US native, Yucca gloriosa, in David Tristam's UK nursery. The deer-resistant rosette will eventually reach 2' tall x 2' wide, composed of stiff medium green leaves which are surrounded by a wide border that emerges yellow and fades to creamy white. Mature clumps are topped in late summer with 3' tall flower spikes of white bell-shaped flowers...a favorite of hummingbirds. This is a dreadfully slow-growing plant...slower than DC Beltway traffic. I'd plant this in the rock garden and if it ever decides to grow to a larger size, move it to another location. Pot Size: 3.5" (24 fl. oz/709.77 ml)
(syn: Yucca schottii var. jaliscensis) This little known deer-resistant, hummingbird friendly tree yucca hails from the south-central Mexican province of Jalisco, where it grows around 5,000' elevation. In form, it resembles Yucca schottii, which it was formerly considered a type of. The 10' tall trunks are composed of wide blue-green foliage. We are trialing this for the first time and consequently have a few to spare for adventurous gardeners. Pot Size: 3.5" (24 fl. oz/709.77 ml)
(syn: Yucca rostrata var. linearis) Imagine taking the wonderful Yucca rostrata and making the blue leaves narrower but longer (to 32"). If you can envision this atop a short phone pole, then you can image Yucca linearifolia. This deer-resistant native to Texas and adjacent northern Mexico was long considered a form of Yucca rostrata but has been elevated to species status...at least by some taxonomists. This is surprisingly little known in cultivation, but we aim to help change that. Expect a 4' tall specimen in 10 years. Yucca blooms are a hummingbird favorite. Pot Size: 3.5" (24 fl. oz/709.77 ml)
This splendid deer-resistant yucca makes a great garden plant, forming short 20" tall x 30" wide single rosettes. The wide and slightly twisted powder-blue leaves are somewhat stiff, but not dangerous as with other species like Yucca torreyi. When mature, the clumps are topped with 3' tall spikes holding white bell-shaped flowers...a hummingbird favorite. This Steve Lowe collection of the Texas endemic is from Lampasas County in central Texas. Pot Size: 3.5" (24 fl. oz/709.77 ml)
Yucca queretaroensis was first discovered in 1989 in the Mexican states of Queretaro and Hidalgo between 3,000' and 4,000' elevation. Yucca queretaroensis is similar in appearance to Yucca linearifolia, but has a thicker trunk (10' tall) and a square green leaf compared to the flat leaf of Yucca linearifolia. A 30" flower spike of white bells will top the clump once it reaches maturity. Yucca queretaroensis makes a stunningly beautiful clump and no doubt will be hugely popular once it becomes more widely available. This is so new to cultivation, we don't know the limits of the cold tolerance yet, but we've seen no damage at 14 degrees F. Pot Size: 3.5" (24 fl. oz/709.77 ml)
This bizarre yucca was shared with us by Florida plantsman, Alani Davis, who named it after finding it growing in Leon County, Florida. We are uncertain if this is a mutant wild form of the trunked Yucca recurvifolia, or an old hybrid with that species. Regardless, it's a cool garden plant that forms a 3' tall trunk in three years, topped with a large 3' tall head of narrow 4' long blue green, deer-resistant leaves that weep more so than typical Yucca recurvifolia. Yucca 'Cousin It' also doesn't get the winter leaf spotting that can bother some forms of Yucca recurvifolia. In fall, the clumps are topped with 4.5' tall spikes of large, white, bell-shaped flowers...a hummingbird treat. Pot Size: 3.5" (24 fl. oz/709.77 ml)
This selection of Yucca rostrata comes from an early 1990s Sean Hogan collection in northern Mexico. Sean grew out a batch of seed and selected the most powder blue form for tissue culture under the name Yucca rostrata 'Sapphire Skies'. Yucca rostrata is one of the hardiest species of trunked yucca, forming a 4' tall deer-resistant, hummingbird-friendly plant in 10 years. The narrow, powder blue leaves are quite flexible and subsequently worthless as a weapon, so just enjoy yours as a garden specimen. Pot Size: 3.5" (24 fl. oz/709.77 ml)
If you want to bring a piece of the desert into a more moist temperate garden, the deer-resistant Yucca schottii is a perfect choice. Yucca schottii is another of the spectacular tree yuccas, usually reaching Sasquatch-like proportions of 10-15' tall. The rigid, steely-blue leaves, to 3' long, form a truly structural, as well as imposing, clump...sure to put fear in the neighborhood kids...topped with 2' spikes of white flowers in autumn...a hummingbird favorite. Pot Size: 3.5" (24 fl. oz/709.77 ml)
(syn: Yucca rostrata var. thompsoniana) This is one of my favorite tree yuccas. As the plant ages, the spectacular single trunk will be attractively adorned with dried foliage flattened to the trunk, and topped with a toupee of narrow, blue-grey foliage...most closely resembling a spray-painted '60s afro hairdo on a tall Al Gore-shaped fence post. In late spring, the deer-resistant plants are topped with 4' spikes of white, hummingbird friendly flowers...COOL! Our plants are grown from a Yucca Do seed collection in Terrell County, Texas, just east of the town of Dryden. Pot Size: 3.5" (24 fl. oz/709.77 ml)
This easy-to-grow, deer-resistant yucca will eventually make a tree to 15' tall. In 10 years, expect a stunning 8' tall architectural specimen with wide, rigid, blue-green, bayonet-like leaves to 3' long. When Yucca torreyi gets established, it will reward you with a hummingbird-friendly 4' tall spike of white, bell-shaped flowers plus lots of laughs as you ask friends to weed around it. Pot Size: 3.5" (24 fl. oz/709.77 ml)
Although no longer recognized by herbarium taxonomists, Yucca treculeana var. canaliculata is quite distinct from typical Yucca treculeana in its Sasquatch-like proportions. This giant is made up of stiff, 5' long, glaucous leaves (3.5' is typical) radiating out from the massive 1' thick trunk. This giant form hails from the Rio Grande region of south Texas, where it forms monster-sized clumps along the Texas-Mexico border. In the garden, our 7-year-old, deer-resistant clumps are 10' tall x 11' wide. Mature plants are topped with massive globes of white that open to reveal the white bell-shaped flowers...a hummingbird fiesta. If you need to stop trespassing deer...this is your plant! Pot Size: 3.5" (24 fl. oz/709.77 ml)
We are pleased to finally be able to offer the rare San Angelo soapwort thanks to our friends at Yucca Do. Our offering is from Sutton County, Texas, just west of Sonora. Yucca reverchonii is endemic to gravelly limestone soils of the Edwards Plateau in central Texas and is possibly the result of an ancient rendevous between Yucca thompsoniana and Yucca rupicola. For us, it makes a 2' tall x 3' wide short-trunked clump (usually solitary) of narrow blue-green leaves. Mature clumps are topped with 8' tall flower spikes of bright white bells in late May (NC). Pot Size: 3.5" (24 fl. oz/709.77 ml)
This clump-forming, deer-resistant yucca is native only to a small area in the Edwards Plateau region of Texas, where we found it growing atop very dry banks with liatris and vernonia. Yucca rupicola is prized for the wide green leaves that twist, forming a wild-looking clump that reminds me of those delightfully silly, over-moussed punk rock hairdos of the '80s. In spring, the 3' tall x 3' wide Yucca rupicola clumps are topped with 8' flower spikes of white bells. Pot Size: 3.5" (24 fl. oz/709.77 ml)
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