What Compliments a Yucca?

tiff272 · February 2022

*I meant to post this in Garden Design but can't figure out how to delete / move, sorry!

Hi All,

I need some advice on what to plant in place of a pampas grass we'll be removing (far left). Here's the layout - from Streetview before we moved in a couple years ago.

With some love the yucca's seem to be doing well. It's a sunny, well drained area.

Pampas also doing well but has grown too large and a frequent victim to plume theft which leaves it scruffy - and me stressed asking people to stop! All the cut stems are other people...

I know nothing of gardening, what could we put where the pampas is which would be low maintenance and not grow to big or tall? We like the yucca's but I'm not sure putting another there would look right.

Thanks so much for your help!

Dovefromabove · February 2022

I think three similar plants in a row always looks good ... symmetry is usually pleasing to the eye ... to me two the same next to each other and an odd one on the end looks ... well, odd.

If I really wanted another type of plant I would put it in the middle ... so it looks

.... O - | - O ... rather than ... | - O - O ...

but given that you already have two the same in a row I'd go for

.... O - O - O ....

you'd need to get a fairly big one to match up, but to my mind that's the best look.

Oh, and don't worry about the post being in the wrong section ... most of us just go straight to Latest Posts so we see everything there.

BenCotto · February 2022

The strong roots and dangerously serrated leaves of pampas make them beasts to get out so pace yourself and be sure to wear protective clothing. We had three large ones in our back garden that only readily came out using a digger.

My take on yuccas is that their sub tropical, desert-like look doesn’t particularly lend itself to complementary planting unless you have another spiky quite exotic plant there so I would seriously consider another yucca. In my view, other similar plants quickly look so tatty with their frost-damaged, wind-shredded leaves.

An alternative might be a specimen holly which you could keep trimmed to a desired size or maybe an olive tree.

Incidentally, have you had any strange looks from passers by? A pampas in the front garden is said to be a sign that you are in the ‘swingers’ fraternity! And that people are blatantly stealing the fronds is disgraceful.

debs64 · February 2022

Pampas grass is very desirable for home decor at the moment so maybe before you cut it down take off the fronds and pop them on Facebook marketplace or some such?

Personally I dislike it indoors it sheds everywhere !

Hostafan1 · February 2022

debs64 said:

Pampas grass is very desirable for home decor at the moment so maybe before you cut it down take off the fronds and pop them on Facebook marketplace or some such?
Personally I dislike it indoors it sheds everywhere !

and it smells

BenCotto · February 2022

I’ve seen that, and been astonished. How very ‘Abigail’s Party’.

Fronds can fetch £5 each.

tiff272 · February 2022

Dovefromabove said:

I think three similar plants in a row always looks good

BenCotto said:

I would seriously consider another yucca. In my view, other similar plants quickly look so tatty with their frost-damaged, wind-shredded leaves.

Yeah if I can find one that looks somewhat different (but still yucca) I'd be ok with that. One which matches the existing in type and size probably won't happen & I feel will look unintentionally wrong.

Any yucca variant suggestions? I have no idea what type the existing are.

BenCotto said:

The strong roots and dangerously serrated leaves of pampas make them beasts to get out so pace yourself and be sure to wear protective clothing.

We've got a professional booked. Doing it ourselves would be asking for trouble!

BenCotto said:

have you had any strange looks from passers by? A pampas in the front garden is said to be a sign that you are in the ‘swingers’ fraternity!

Haha I have heard that. Our desires have changed - maybe that's the real reason we're getting it removed...!

Dovefromabove · February 2022

Maybe you just don't fancy any of the neighbours?

Plantminded · February 2022

If I was starting from new I'd go with @Dovefromabove's symmetry layout, with plants all of the same type, age and height.

However, when you remove your Pampas grass you'll have two Yuccas of different sizes, so how about another spiky plant, smaller than your middle Yucca to create a flow of increasing sizes?

Phormium tricolor might suit you - it has a complementary spiky habit and shouldn't attract thieves! It doesn't get tatty like the green one and the dark coloured ones are slower growing. Phormium tricolor has green and white stripes with a subtle red edge:
Buy New Zealand flax Phormium cookianum subsp. hookeri Tricolor: £29.99 Delivery by Crocus

If you really want to deter your neighbours a good spiky plant is a hardy Agave - but that may be going a bit too far!

JennyJ · February 2022

I think I'd also go for another yucca in that situation.

tiff272 · February 2022

Plantminded said:

how about another spiky plant, smaller than your middle Yucca to create a flow of increasing sizes?

Ah you're right, I hadn't clicked the size differences but that's a good thing to play on small to large.

The Phormium tricolour is beautiful. Does it develop a trunk like the yucca or does it just stay as a sort of bush / shrub? What sort of maintenance would it need once established? Forgive my gardening ignorance!