# Spanish Dagger (Yucca gloriosa)

> A coastal yucca whose sword-shaped leaves rise in time on a woody trunk, crowned by tall spikes of nodding, creamy white bells.

Also called moundlily yucca, mound lily, palm lily, tree lily, curve-leaf yucca, Yucca recurvifolia. Category: Native Shrubs. Grown from seed by Blue Whale Trees. Web version: https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/spanish-dagger/

![Spanish dagger (Yucca gloriosa) sword-leaved rosette with a spike of white bells on a sandy dune](https://bluewhaletrees.com/img/plants/spanish-dagger-h1610-800.jpg)
*Photo: JohnNewton8, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped · [Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3AYucca_gloriosa_2.jpg)*

## Facts

- Type: Shrub
- Mature height: 3 to 16 ft
- USDA hardiness zones: 6 to 10
- Grows wild in: The coast, sandy barrens and dry uplands
- Native range: 7 states, north to [North Carolina](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=NC), south to [Florida](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=FL) and west to [Louisiana](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=LA) ([Alabama](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=AL), [Florida](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=FL), [Georgia](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=GA), [Louisiana](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=LA), [Mississippi](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=MS), [North Carolina](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=NC) and [South Carolina](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=SC))
- Sun: Full, Part
- Soil moisture: Dry, Average
- Growth rate: Slow
- Flowers: April to November
- Fruit: Fleshy fruit, November to December
- First crop: 5 to 6 years (first flowers)
- Mature spread: 8 ft
- Traits: Evergreen, Showy flowers, Salt tolerant, Drought tolerant, Rare, Wildlife value
- Sold as: Saplings, Seed

Heights and zones are typical ranges for the species in cultivation; local conditions and seed source shift them.

## Availability

Saplings ship [bare-root](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/planting-bare-root-trees-on-arrival/index.html.md) or [in a pot](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/a-sapling-in-a-pot/index.html.md), [usually 12 to 18 inches tall](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/small-sapling-or-big-transplant/index.html.md), in the dormant season, and their height and age are stated with the price, once available. Live plants ship February to May and October to November. Not priced yet: leave an email on the web page for one email when it is priced, with a code for 10% off the plants in that order, not shipping or tax, or write to captain@bluewhaletrees.com.

## Notes

Spanish dagger is a yucca of coastal dunes and beaches, a rosette of stiff, evergreen, sword-shaped leaves that lifts onto a woody trunk as it ages. It looks much like aloe yucca, which also goes by Spanish dagger, but it branches near the top, which gives it a rounder, mound-like shape. It reached European gardens about 1550 and is one of the most common yuccas in cultivation. Florida lists it as endangered. Use it as an accent or a barrier in a dry, sunny bed or a seaside garden.

## Size, growth and what to expect

Spanish dagger grows slowly, about a foot a year in our growth estimator. It starts as a mound of stiff leaves and after some years lifts it on a woody trunk that may branch near the top. Plants reach 3 to 16 feet tall and 3 to 8 feet wide, and garden plants often stop near 5 feet. The blue-green leaves run 1.5 to 2.5 feet long and end in a sharp spine.

Spikes up to 8 feet tall carry nodding, creamy white bells, often tinged red or purple, between April and November. Leathery, six-ribbed fruits 1 to 3 inches long ripen in November and December. Hummingbirds and bees visit the flowers, and the plant gives cover to wildlife.

It grows wild near the coast from eastern North Carolina to northeastern Florida and west along the Gulf to Louisiana. Its home is coastal dunes, beaches, shell middens and the edges of brackish marshes, on sandy soil. It is rare and local in the wild, and NatureServe ranks it imperiled to vulnerable in North Carolina.

## How to grow Spanish Dagger

Spanish dagger is a yucca for full sun, and it takes a little shade. It wants a sandy, well-drained soil and stands drought, heat, humidity and salt spray, though not salt water over its roots. Keep it out of ground that stays wet. Set plants 4 feet apart and keep them 4 feet from a wall, well back from paths and play areas, since the leaf tips are sharp. At its size it can go within 15 feet of overhead wires.

Saplings ship bare-root or potted. Plant them in a hole wider than the roots and no deeper. Set the base of the rosette at the soil line, put the native soil back in, and keep the mulch clear of the stem. As with other yuccas, soak the seed in water at room temperature for a day before sowing. Sow it in spring, and most seedlings come up in one to two weeks, though some seed waits two to three years.

Water weekly through the first summer, then only in long droughts. Mulch young seedlings over their first winter where frost comes, as with other yuccas. Deer and rabbits seldom bother it.

Each flower carries both male and female parts, so there are no male and female plants to pair. Like other yuccas, it depends on the yucca moth to set seed, since the moth carries the pollen, and its larvae eat some of the seeds. It is a host plant of the cofaqui and yucca giant skippers, whose caterpillars feed on it. It has no serious pest or disease.

## Sources

- [NC State Extension Gardener Plant Toolbox: Yucca gloriosa](https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/yucca-gloriosa/)
- [NC State Extension Gardener Plant Toolbox: Yucca aloifolia](https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/yucca-aloifolia/)
- [Missouri Botanical Garden Plant Finder: Yucca gloriosa](https://www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/PlantFinder/PlantFinderDetails.aspx?taxonid=255857&isprofile=0)
- [Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center: Yucca gloriosa](https://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=YUGL2)
- [Flora of North America, vol. 26: Yucca gloriosa](http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=1&taxon_id=242102065)
- [Florida Native Plant Society: Yucca gloriosa](https://www.fnps.org/plant/yucca-gloriosa)
- [USDA Forest Service, Woody Plant Seed Manual (2008), Yucca chapter, Alexander, Pond and Rodgers](https://www.fs.usda.gov/nsl/Wpsm/Yucca.pdf)
- [NatureServe Explorer: Yucca gloriosa](https://explorer.natureserve.org/Taxon/ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.152017/Yucca_gloriosa)
- [North Carolina Natural Heritage Program: List of Rare Plant Species of North Carolina 2024, revised 11/03/2025](https://www.ncnhp.org/media/831/open)
- [Florida Administrative Code, Rule 5B-40.0055, Regulated Plant Index, effective January 8, 2020](https://www.flrules.org/gateway/ruleNo.asp?id=5B-40.0055)
- [Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation: Natural Heritage Resources of Virginia, Rare Plants, March 2026](https://www.dcr.virginia.gov/natural-heritage/document/plantlist-current.pdf)

## Read before planting

- [Ten planting mistakes that quietly kill trees](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/ten-planting-mistakes/index.html.md)
- [Transplanting young trees: timing, water and protection](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/transplanting-young-trees/index.html.md)
- [Protecting young trees from voles, rabbits, deer and squirrels](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/protecting-trees-from-animals/index.html.md)
- [How fast every tree and shrub we grow gets tall: growth rate, A to Z](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/growth-rates/index.html.md)
- [The habitat around a tree is part of the tree](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/habitat-around-a-tree/index.html.md)
- [Invasive vines and shrubs are what is killing your woods](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/invasive-vines-and-shrubs/index.html.md)

## Related

- Trees to plant it under: [Laurel Oak](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/laurel-oak/index.html.md), [Redbay](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/redbay/index.html.md) and [Live Oak](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/live-oak/index.html.md)
- [Planting-site check](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/site-check/index.html.md): for a thrive, struggle or fail verdict on Spanish Dagger, add ?species=spanish-dagger with zone (2 to 10), sun (full, part, shade) and moisture (dry, average, wet) to that address; for example, the verdict for zone 6, part sun and average soil as Markdown is at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/site-check/index.html.md?species=spanish-dagger&zone=6&sun=part&moisture=average
- [Companion species for Spanish Dagger](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/companions/index.html.md?species=spanish-dagger): the natives that share its ground and the plants that pair with it in a yard.
- [Growth estimator](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/growth/index.html.md): how the height and trunk projections are made; the estimate for Spanish Dagger as Markdown is at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/growth/index.html.md?species=spanish-dagger (add height=, years= and site= poor, average or good)
- [Seed sowing planner](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/sowing/index.html.md): how Spanish Dagger is sown, in the chart for every species (treatment, cold days, depth, timing); the dated plan for it as Markdown is at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/sowing/index.html.md?species=spanish-dagger (add state= and zone= for your own frost dates, method=fridge for the refrigerator route)
- [Pollination planner](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/pollination/index.html.md): what Spanish Dagger needs for a crop and how many to plant, in the table for every species; the verdict for 1 of them as Markdown is at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/pollination/index.html.md?plants=spanish-dagger:1
- [Planting-window tool](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/planting-window/index.html.md): when to plant Spanish Dagger where you live, as a fall and a spring window from the local frost dates; the windows as Markdown are at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/planting-window/index.html.md?species=spanish-dagger&state=MO&zone=6 with your own state and zone in place of those
- [Planting-distance tool](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/distance/index.html.md): how far Spanish Dagger goes from a house, a septic field, a walk, wires, a property line and the next tree; the distances as Markdown are at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/distance/index.html.md?species=spanish-dagger&near=house,septic,pavement,wires,boundary,tree
- [Bloom and fruit calendar](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/calendar/index.html.md): the months Spanish Dagger flowers and fruits, in the grid for every species; its own row and the gaps of a planting with it as Markdown at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/calendar/index.html.md?plants=spanish-dagger