Native yuccas Creating landscape excitement

Native yuccas

Creating landscape excitement

by Norman Winter, Horticulturist, Author and Speaker

These Color Guard yuccas seem to be the perfect foliage partner for this newly planted bed of pansies.

Look out America, Color Guard and Golden Sword are changing landscapes in dramatic fashion. Believe it or not these two selections of our native Yucca filamentosa are crushing the cookie cutter, look-alike landscapes, no matter the season.

Now when I say our native, I’m not talking the desert southwest but the east from Texas to New York. That’s correct: these evergreen yuccas are cold hardy from zones 4 through 10. Color Guard and Golden Sword create excitement by virtue of being an unexpected plant in the flower border, enticing all visitors to be mesmerized and thus bringing out the camera.

Both varieties will reach 24-inches tall and perhaps a little wider showing of their green and gold variegation. While you might possibly be thinking, "I don’t want to grow a garden of yucca, cactus and agave," just know the palette of colors and partnerships is only limited by your imagination. You want to plant with begonias? Do it. Red spider lilies? That works, too. Whatever the season, or the possible partnerships, all will look dazzling beyond your dreams when grown with these showy variegated yuccas.

In the winter, in Columbus, GA, professional landscapers are using them as pansy pals which looked stunning even before the pansies kicked in to gear, so to speak. But its not just pansies. Another landscaper planted them with Citrona and Black Pearl heuchera as well as juncus and pansies.

Typically, everyone thinks of cabbage, kale, mustard and chard as foliage plants to be pansy partners, which is certainly appropriate. They are treated as annuals to be replanted ever year. With the Color Guard or Golden Sword, however ,you will be growing one that is essentially an evergreen perennial.

In addition to creating excitement by being an unexpected plant, they also stand out by virtue of rising above the horizontal plane. If you are unfamiliar with this term, think of a bed of pansies, marigolds or even petunias. You could conceivably draw an imaginary line across the top of the bed. When you rise above this with spikey flowers or in the case of the yucca, sword -ike foliage, then there is a tremendous amount of added interest.

As you might expect from a native, it is an extremely drought-tolerant plant that requires good drainage. If your soil is clay or muck that holds water, then by all means improve your soil and plant on raised beds. They will produce offsets which can be separated to confine to allotted area or design and of course they can be planted elsewhere in the garden.

I may be raving about the foliage and architectural aspects in the garden, but each spring to early summer, another amazing site takes place as creamy white, lightly fragrant blooms are borne on 6-foot-tall stalks.

These blooms are found to be a most delectable source of nectar for hummingbirds.

It is a rare week that someone doesn’t ask me about deer-resistant plants. If you find yourself the proud owner of a roving herd, then rejoice. The Color Guard and Golden Sword yuccas will not become Bambi’s salad. Hairy Soapwort and Adam’s Needle are common names associated with these yuccas and certainly not ones that even Madison Avenue could market. One look at the bright gold and green variegation of these tough-asnails plants however, will steal your heart in a "New York Minute,"and that is pretty darn fast.

These Golden Sword yuccas create a dazzling cool season border with Citona and Black Pearl heuchera, juncus and pansies.

Photo by Susan Evans This poolside bed is filled with architectural plants and the two Color Guard yuccas stand out in dramatic fashion.

Variegated yuccas like Color Guard and Golden Sword can make a dazzling partnership with any other flower including angel's trumpets.

Follow Norman on Facebook:

Norman Winter The Garden Guy