Beaked yucca

This plant, with its beautiful cool blue crown of spiked leaves, set off against the warm cream of its trunk, is simply awe-inspiring when planted well in our European gardens. It is so evocative of hot summer holidays abroad and so will form an ideal focal point to a ‘hot’ planting scheme or dry rockery.

The ‘Beaked yucca’ originates from the deserts of Texas, Chihuahua and Coahuila. It is particularly resistant to cold, as the temperature in these deserts can plummet at nights; it may only need some protection as temperatures outside drop to lower than -15C. The plant grows slowly to up to 5m (15 feet) tall, and boasts an unusual and spectacular rounded crown of blue leaves at the top of a creamy white solitary trunk, clothed in a skirt of dead leaves. The leaves are up to 70cm (25 inches) long and around 15mm (half an inch) wide, tapering to a sharp point. The spectacular inflorescence is 1m tall (3 feet) with white flowers.