Cold hardiness

Future

2050

2100

These values are location-based: this location's current hardiness is the baseline, and the 2050 value is a projected future climate for this same location.

Now

Zone 6b

USDA

Published baseline for this location from 1991-2020.

Source: USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023 (1991-2020 climatology) via ArcGIS FeatureServer

Well-suited

2050

Zone 7a

Plotwright

Projected zone for this same location in 2050 (2041-2070) using SSP3-7.0 (regional rivalry).

Well-suited

In plain terms: This location is in Zone 6b today. Its hardiness profile is cold winters, and coldest nights are typically around -3°F. By 2050, the projected hardiness zone is Zone 7a based on SSP3-7.0 (regional rivalry). That is a +0.5-zone shift from Zone 6b to Zone 7a by 2050.

✓

Well-suited today and still thriving in 2050.

Heat tolerance

Future

2050

2100

Heat tolerance values are location-based too: heat days today are observed at this site, and the 2050 value projects this same location under a future climate.

Loading AHS heat-zone data for this location...

Where this plant fits

Suitable across 45 ecoregions — 44 climate-resilient through 2070 · 1 newly possible by 2070. Best matches first.

Appalachian mixed mesophytic forests

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Appalachian-Blue Ridge forests

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Arizona Mountains forests

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Atlantic coastal pine barrens

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Blue Mountains forests

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California coastal sage and chaparral

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Canadian Aspen forests and parklands

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Central Pacific Northwest coastal forests

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Central Tallgrass prairie

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Central-Southern Cascades Forests

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What it needs

Conditions

Light

Full sun / Part shade

Water

Low water

Spacing

36"

Habit

Virtually stemless evergreen basal rosette with tall summer flowering stalks

Care tips

•

Give it full sun and sharp drainage — poor, sandy, dry soil is ideal; rich or wet soil is the fastest way to kill it.

•

Site it where the spine-tipped leaves will not catch passersby, and where the 5-8 ft summer flower stalks have headroom.

•

Propagate by lifting basal offsets once a clump has begun to colonize.

Lifecycle

Planting

Plant in full sun in light, dry-to-medium, well-drained soil. Tolerant of poor, sandy soils, heat, drought, and salt spray, with surprising tolerance for some part shade (Missouri Botanical Garden PlantFinder).

Transplanting

Move while young; the deep, established root system makes mature plants difficult to relocate cleanly. Handle the spine-tipped leaves with care.

Early growth

Water during establishment, then back off — wet or rich soil is the main way to lose this plant. Avoid mulching over the crown.

Maturity

Mature rosettes reach 2-3 ft tall and send flowering stalks to 5-8 ft in early summer; plants form small colonies over time from basal offsets and eventually spread (Missouri Botanical Garden PlantFinder).

Propagation

Easily propagated from basal offsets; also grown from seed (Missouri Botanical Garden PlantFinder).

Pollination

Self-incompatible

Yucca filamentosa cannot self-pollinate: it depends on the yucca moth (Tegeticula) in an obligate mutualism. The female moth deliberately packs collected pollen onto the stigma while laying eggs in the ovary, ensuring seed set; the developing seeds in turn feed the moth larvae (Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center). The flowers are also visited by hummingbirds.

Plants don't grow alone

Larval host

Specialist

Butterfly

Skipper butterflies (Hesperiidae (family-level entry))

Yucca specialist host — the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center documents Yucca filamentosa as a larval host for the Yucca Giant-Skipper (Megathymus yuccae) and Cofaqui Giant-Skipper (Megathymus cofaqui), whose larvae bore into the plant.

Nectar forage

Bird

Ruby-throated hummingbird (Archilochus colubris)

The Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center notes the white flowers are visited by hummingbirds.

For people

Not eaten by humans

Grown as an ornamental and architectural landscape plant for borders, dry gardens, dry slopes, large containers, and seaside or road-salt-exposed sites (Missouri Botanical Garden PlantFinder), not as a food crop. The leaves are rigid and spine-tipped.

Native range

Native across 29 US states.

AHS heat range

6-12

Native ecoregions

Naturally belongs in 18 ecoregions — its native range crosses a state or province each one spans (not necessarily this exact habitat).

Appalachian mixed mesophytic forests

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Appalachian-Blue Ridge forests

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Atlantic coastal pine barrens

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Central Tallgrass prairie

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Chihuahuan desert

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Cross-Timbers savanna-woodland

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Eastern Great Lakes lowland forests

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Edwards Plateau savanna

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Flint Hills tallgrass prairie

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Mississippi lowland forests

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Climate notes

•

Missouri Botanical Garden PlantFinder lists Yucca filamentosa for USDA zones 5 to 10 in full sun and dry-to-medium moisture, with a native range across the central and eastern United States.

•

The Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center documents it native from Long Island and Pennsylvania south to Florida and Louisiana, and tolerant of dry soil and full sun; Missouri Botanical Garden PlantFinder adds tolerance of poor sandy soils, heat, drought, salt spray, erosion, shallow-rocky soil, and urban conditions, plus rabbit and deer resistance.

•

Tolerates warm to extreme summer heat — a heat-, drought-, and salt-tolerant species native through the Southeast and persisting into Extreme-tier summer climates of the Gulf and Florida.

In the designer

Growth over time

48-96" tall · 24-36" spread

Mature 2-3 ft foliage clump with 5-8 ft summer flowering stalks; begins forming basal offsets.

Design roles: Structure · Focal point · Border

Seasonal interest

Spring

Summer

Fall

Winter

Filled = the plant has seasonal interest · ▾ now = your current season

Adam's needle

At a glance

Related products

Why it matters

Cold hardiness

Heat tolerance

Where this plant fits

What it needs

Lifecycle

Pollination

Plants don't grow alone

For people

Native range

Climate notes

In the designer

Seasonal interest

Sources & citations