Plant Type

Broadleaf Evergreen, Shrub

 

Height Range

3-6'

 

Flower Color

White

 

Flower Season

Spring

 

Leaf Color

Green, Grey Green

 

Bark Color

n/a

 

Fruit Color

Red

 

Fruit Season

Summer

Sun

Full

 

Water

Very Low

 

Growth Rate

Moderate

 

Soil Type

Sandy, Clay, Rocky

 

Soil Condition

Average, Poor, Well-drained, Dry

 

Soil pH

Neutral, Basic

 

Adverse Factors

Invasive, Thorns/Spines

Design Styles

Japanese, Meadow, Mediterranean, Ranch, Spanish

 

Accenting Features

Showy Flowers, Silhouette, Specimen

 

Seasonal Interest

Winter, Spring, Summer, Fall

 

Location Uses

Background, Shrub Border, Foundation, Walls / Fences, With Rocks

 

Special Uses

Erosion Control, Hedge, Screen, Mass Planting, Naturalizing

 

Attracts Wildlife

Birds, Hummingbirds, Butterflies

Adam’s needle (also commonly called Spanish bayonet, yucca, and needle palm) is a virtually stemless broadleaf evergreen shrub (though it looks more like a perennial than a shrub). It features a basal rosette of rigid, sword-shaped, spine-tipped green leaves (to 30” long and to 4” wide) with long curly threads along the margins. Leaves form a clump to 2 to 3 feet tall. In late spring, a flowering stalk rises from the center of each rosette, typically to 5 to 8 feet tall, but infrequently to 12 feet, bearing fragrant, nodding, bell-shaped, creamy white flowers. Fruits are capsules and are edible. Use in rock gardens, as an architectural accent, in a meadow-type planting, or planted among a mass of ornamental grasses. Evergreen.

Grow in well drained, sandy-gravelly soil in full sun, though is surprisingly tolerant of some part shade. No maintenance is needed, though you can remove the flower scape after the plant has finished blooming. The leaves are spiny, so plant it where it won't interfere with a walkway. Yucca are clumping, and so in time will form large colonies.