If you’ve been thinking about adding a new tree to your garden, a yucca is worth considering. Not only are there almost 50 varieties that you can choose from, with each one growing in its own unique way, but yucca trees offer up a number of other benefits too.
Yucca Trees Boast Several Edible Parts
Most grow yuccas for their ornamental qualities, but these trees have long since provided an important food source to cultures around the world. Almost every part of the plant is edible – from the stems and stalks to the flowers and fruit.
Out of the many yucca varieties available, the Yucca Rostrata is famed for its sweet fruits that boast a fig-like flavour. The flower petals are also loved by foodies for their crunchy texture, along with a flavour that sits somewhere between an artichoke and a green bean.
Yucca Trees are Revered for Their Medicinal Properties
Not only do yucca trees provide your garden with an extra food source, but they’re also prized for being highly medicinal. Yucca is used to treat a variety of ailments, from arthritis to high cholesterol to migraines.
Granted, you could easily purchase some yucca supplements instead, but having your own yucca tree guarantees an infinite source of its medicinal properties.
Yucca Trees are Easy to Care For
If you’d prefer to keep your garden on the low-maintenance side, then a yucca tree would be a great choice – they really don’t ask for much at all. They don’t require pruning, need very little supplementary watering (they’re extremely drought-tolerant), and won’t need a fertiliser either.
They’re also not prone to pests and diseases, although it would still be wise to give your yucca trees a seasonal health check.
A Yucca Tree Creates a Dramatic Focal Point
As mentioned, yucca trees are revered for their ornamental qualities. They truly are such an attractive species. From the olive-green, sword-shaped rosettes of the Yucca Filifera to the spherical pom-pom heads of the Yucca Rostrata, these are trees that will add so much colour, texture, and life to your garden, throughout the year.
That said, yuccas really do come into their own each spring. Mature trees will produce a long flower stalk towards the end of spring, with this exploding open to reveal beautiful, and sometimes scented, flowers that promise to decorate your garden through the summer. These flower spikes can sometimes stretch up to 1.5m above the top of the tree, giving the space around them a dramatic focal point.
Yucca Trees Attract Wildlife
If you’re looking for a way to add more biodiversity to your garden, a yucca tree won’t let you down. Loved by the birds and the bees, especially when they’re flowering, you’ll find that so many different creatures are attracted to your yucca trees, bringing so much new life into your garden.
Summary
While it’s true that some yucca species have a reputation of being difficult to grow, this really all depends on where you purchase your yucca from. Look for a nursery, such as ours, that grows their yucca trees on-site, rather than bringing in cuttings from abroad. This way, those trees will have already adapted to local conditions, meaning that they’re much more likely to thrive once you’ve planted them out in your garden.