Watering Yucca in Winter

Q. Should I turn off the water to my yuccas during the winter?

Yucca rigida with golden barrel cacti beneath it. Y. rigida is a native to the southwest and, along with golden barrel another native cacti to the southwestern deserts, can be watered less often than yucca not native to our deserts. Examples of Yucca not native to the soutwest include Y. gloriosa and Y. filamentosa.

A. It depends on the yucca and where it came from. Some yucca come from dry regions and others come from wetter regions. I would not irrigate as often yucca native to the southwestern US. Examples include Yucca rostrata sometimes called Adams Yucca or Beaked Yucca, Y. schidigera and Y. elata as well as others.  I would water them once during the winter months of December and January. These are xeric in their water needs. That is the time to give them a good soaking. Confused yet? Ask your nurseryman which yucca it is before you buy it. Put Yucca native to the deserts of the southwest together so you can irrigate them at the same time. 

Yucca elata, soaptree yucca, is also native to the deserts of our area. Plants surrounding it, golden barrels, are also native to this area. The landscaper did a good job of grouping plants together with similar watering needs.

But yucca native to the southeastern US (such as Yucca gloriosa sometimes called Spanish Dagger and Y. filamentosa sometimes called Adams Needle as well as others) should be irrigated once every two or three weeks during the winter. Water these as you would any other landscape plant. They are mesic in their water needs. Put non desert yucca together so it is easier to irrigate them because they should get watered more often.

Probably Yucca rigida, a desert native. Probably watered too often.