🌿 Understory GuidePlant FinderGuild Builder

aloe yucca

Yucca aloifolia · Agavaceae

aloe yucca (Yucca aloifolia)
Photo: (c) Bobby McCabe, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · via iNaturalist

aloe yucca (Yucca aloifolia) is a perennial shrub in the Agavaceae family. It is native to North America. USDA records it as hardy in zone 6 and warmer, down to about -1°F.

At a glance

Typeshrub Derived
Lifecycleperennial USDA
Native statusnative USDA
Mature height15 ft USDA
Lightpart-shade USDA
Growth rateslow USDA
Soil pH5–8.5 USDA
BloomJune USDA
Flower colorWhite USDA
Hardiness zones6 and warmer USDA
Guild layershrub Derived
Nursery availabilityRoutinely Available USDA

USDA quoted from the USDA PLANTS database · Derived computed by a fixed rule from those columns. No value on this page is estimated.

Growing conditions

It grows in partial shade. Its drought tolerance is rated medium. It is recorded on soils from pH 5 to 8.5 — a broad range that spans acidic through mildly alkaline ground. Its cold limit is zone 6.

Size and growth

At maturity it reaches about 15 ft, making it a small tree or large shrub. It grows slowly.

Bloom period

USDA records a bloom period of June. Flowers are white.

A flowering date, not a pollinator rating.

Foliage, flower and season

Summer foliage is dark green, coarse in texture. Its flowers are conspicuous. Its fruit or seed heads are conspicuous, extending interest past flowering. Its active growth period is spring. USDA rates its lifespan as short, so plan on replacing or resowing it rather than treating it as permanent structure.

What the site needs to provide

USDA records it across sites receiving 30 to 75 inches of annual precipitation. It needs at least 276 frost-free days to finish its season. It roots to at least 24 inches. Fertility requirement: medium.

Propagating it

It takes readily from seed, cuttings, bare root and container stock. USDA records no cold-stratification requirement, so seed should germinate without a chilling period.

Resilience and wildlife

Its fire tolerance is rated medium. Its growth form is recorded as colonizing.

Role in a guild

Shrub layer. In a layered planting this is woody mid-level structure between the understory and the ground. The layer is derived by a fixed rule from growth habit and mature height.

Build a guild around aloe yucca →

Tags

evergreendrought-tolerantsalt-tolerantclay-tolerantsandy-soilnativeedibleslow-growing

Related plants

Others in Yucca

Similar role and hardiness

Where this data comes from

Every value on this page comes from the USDA PLANTS database record for symbol YUAL, or is computed from those values by a fixed rule. Nothing here is estimated or model-generated. Where USDA publishes no value, this page omits the claim rather than filling the gap.

Read our full data sources and methodology.

Find more plants for your zone with the Plant Finder.