How to Care for Blooming Outdoor Yucca Plants

The yucca plant, also known as Spanish bayonet, is a drought-tolerant plant that grows in coastal areas along sand dunes and the shorelines of North Carolina down to Mexico. Its dark leaves grow up to 2 feet in length with sharp points that make these plants ideal for planting near ground level windows to create difficult entry. The white-purple yucca blossoms expand up to 4 inches, and new shoots form when the blossoms drop.

High-nitrogen fertilizer
Watering can or hose
Sand
Garden trimmers
Insecticidal soap spray

Instructions

- 1
  Prepare the soil around the yucca plant's roots by fertilizing it with a handful of high-nitrogen fertilizer in the late spring or early summer to ensure healthy blossoms.
- 2
  Water the yucca twice weekly, and observe whether the soil is retaining the moisture a few inches below the soil surface. Add sand to the soil around the plant in small increments if the soil is not retaining water. Do not overwater, as this can kill the plant.
- 3
  Use garden trimmers to trim off any older brown leaves around the bottom of the plant, but do not prune off any inner or outer green leaves.
- 4
  Allow the plant to bloom fully, and then prune off any withered blossoms and flower stalks. Allow new buds to form, which will develop into new yucca shoots.
- 5
  Check the yucca plant on a regular basis for fungal lesions and mites. Fungal lesions will score the yucca leaves, and diseased leaves must be removed immediately. Spider mites produce fine white webs on the undersides of the leaves. Insecticidal soap sprayed on the yucca leaves will kill the spider mites.

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