Yucca rigida, Blue Yucca, is a medium-sized arborescent Yucca from northern Mexico with glaucous-green foliage that characteristically points upright and out at an acute angle. In time it develops a trunk to about 2.5m, growing to about 4m total height in the wild although I am unaware of any that large in cultivation in the UK. It needs to be kept as dry as possible during a typically wet UK winter. If given perfect drainage it can survive down to about -10C and possibly more depending on location and microclimate. As with all Yuccas and Agaves the imperative for good drainage cannot be overstated. A free-draining medium consisting mainly of shingle, rock fragments, sand and limestone chippings is ideal. In general, we find Yuccas will tolerate more winter wet than most Agaves but it is important that the growing medium has very little moisture-retaining organic matter.

These are slow-grown seed-raised plants that are 3 years old. They will always do better and transplant more easily than large imported plants. Such plants, imported usually as bare trunks, have poor root systems and are unacclimatised to European or British conditions. But apart from the obvious horticultural benefits, why would you want to encourage the dubious ethics of unsustainable harvesting of wild Yucca populations from the deserts of Mexico? Such practices continue to decimate the local wild populations and should not be supported by British nurseries or exotic plant enthusiasts.