Things You'll Need
Soil testing kit
Complete fertilizer
Mulch
Pruning shears
When it comes to low-maintenance plants, red yucca is first on the list. A hardy plant that is drought- and cold-tolerant, red yucca sports grassy, clumping foliage and bright flowers that bring color and texture to the landscape. This perennial evergreen blooms from early summer until fall with clusters of red to pink flowers on 5-foot-tall spikes. Red yucca thrives in loamy, acidic soil in full sun.
Step 1
Test the soil around the red yucca plant in the spring to find out how much fertilizer it requires. Soil testing kits are available at a garden center or nursery.
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Step 2
Apply a complete fertilizer, containing nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium, in early spring before new leaf shoots emerge from the soil. Avoid putting fertilizer on the plant's leaves, which will burn them.
Step 3
Water newly planted red yucca one to two times a week for the first year. Keep the soil evenly moist, but not soggy. Red yucca plants don't need regular watering after the first year and are able to survive on the water provided by rain. After the first year, water only when there is little to no rainfall.
Step 4
Spread mulch around the plant to prevent weed growth and retain soil moisture.
Step 5
Cut off leaves lying on the ground and dead flower stalks.
Video of the Day
- University of Arizona College of Agriculture & Life Sciences: Red Yucca-Drought Tolerant and Colorful
- Clemson Extension: Growing Perennials
- "Palms Won't Grow Here and Other Myths: Warm-Climate Plants for Cooler Areas"; David A. Francko; 2003
- AgriLife Extension: Red Yucca
- Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center: Hesperaloe parviflora(Red yucca)