Red Yucca Plant Hesperaloe parviflora One Gallon

Red Yucca Plant Hesperaloe parviflora

Hesperaloe parviflora (Red Yucca) - A stemless succulent with clumps of arching and spreading grass-like foliage to 3 to 4 feet tall and speading wider than tall. The leathery long, narrow blue-green leaves have deep grooves and white fraying fibers along the margins and winter temperatures sometimes turn the foliage slightly purple. Clumps spread slowly to up to 6 feet wide.

In late spring to mid-summer the clusters of rose-pink flowers are borne on tall red flower stalks to 5 feet long, that arch up and outward. These flowers, opening from the bottom up, are quite attractive to hummingbirds. Individual rosette only flower once and are replace by younger ones with old plants appearing to be closely packed grass-like clumps but are actually clusters of separate but closely-spaced rosettes with the oldest flowering rosettes towards the center and younger vegetative rosettes towards the outside.

Planting Red Yucca

Plant in full sun or light shade in a well-drained soil. It is drought tolerant and does best in a hot spot in the garden but appreciates occasional irrigation in summer to encourage flowering but do not over water. Hardy to well below 0° F some say as low as -20° F (USDA zone 5). It is a good clean plant for desert and succulent gardens, planted in masses or used in pots. Unarmed leaves make it useful along pathways but unfortunately it also makes it tempting as browse for deer.

This plant is native to the Chihuahuan desert of west Texas east and south into central and south Texas and northeastern Mexico around Coahuila. The name Hesperaloe means western aloe with the combination the Greek word 'Hesperis' meaning "of the evening" or "western" with "aloe" in reference to this plant being found in the North America (in the west) and superficially looking like plants in the genus Aloe.

The plant is currently about 12 to 16 inches tall.