General Plant Information (Edit)
Plant Habit: Shrub
Cactus/Succulent
Life cycle: Perennial
Sun Requirements: Full Sun
Water Preferences: Mesic
Dry Mesic
Dry
Soil pH Preferences: Moderately acid (5.6 – 6.0)
Slightly acid (6.1 – 6.5)
Neutral (6.6 – 7.3)
Slightly alkaline (7.4 – 7.8)
Minimum cold hardiness: Zone 4a -34.4 °C (-30 °F) to -31.7 °C (-25 °F)
Plant Height: 2-3 feet
Plant Spread: Up to 8 feet
Leaves: Evergreen
Fruit: Other: brown pod-like
Fruiting Time: Late summer or early fall
Fall
Late fall or early winter
Flowers: Showy
Flower Color: White
Bloom Size: Under 1"
1"-2"
Flower Time: Summer
Inflorescence Height: 4-15 feet
Foliage Mound Height: 3 feet
Underground structures: Taproot
Suitable Locations: Beach Front
Xeriscapic
Uses: Provides winter interest
Edible Parts: Seeds or Nuts
Fruit
Flowers
Eating Methods: Cooked
Wildlife Attractant: Bees
Butterflies
Hummingbirds
Resistances: Deer Resistant
Rabbit Resistant
Pollution
Humidity tolerant
Drought tolerant
Propagation: Other methods: Division
Offsets
Pollinators: Moths and Butterflies
Containers: Suitable in 3 gallon or larger
Needs excellent drainage in pots
Miscellaneous: Tolerates poor soil
Monoecious
Conservation status: Least Concern (LC)

Conservation status:
Conservation status: Least Concern
Image
Common names
  • Adam's Needle
  • Needle Palm
  • Spoonleaf Yucca
  • Needle and Thread

Photo Gallery

Date: 2020-08-22
Location: Port St. Joe, FL
Date: 2014-05-31
Photo by mattsmom
Location: South Jordan, Utah, United States
Date: 2021-07-01
Location: Illinois, US
Date: 2010-06-14
Location: Aberdeen, NC
Date: May 22, 2022
Adam's needle #86; RAB p. 299, 41-12-3;  LHB p. 240, 34-6-3, "Ori
Location: Sharps Chapel, Tennessee
Date: January 6, 2017
Yucca plant. Stays green through the winter, provides interesting
Location: Dinosaur Gardens, Utah Field House of Natural History State Park Museum, Vernal, Utah, United States
Date: 2022-06-26

Date: 2012-11-07
Location: zone5b NE
Date: 2018-06-08

Date: 2021-06-16
Photo by robertduval14
Location: Heathcote Ontario Canada
Date: 2010  August
Yucca filamentosa	  Seedpods
Location: Pleasant Grove, Utah
Date: 2009-07-11
Location: Kalama, Wa
Date: 2010-07-28
  • Uploaded by Joy
Location: IL
Date: 2015-06-24
Location: Aberdeen, NC 
Date: June 3, 2023
Dusk falling on Adam's needle
Location: Pleasant Grove, Utah
Date: 2011-10-26
A young plant.
Location: Brownstown Pennsylvania
Date: 2016-08-20
Location: Ontario, Canada
Date: July
Location: Port St. Joe, FL
Date: 2014-05-31
Location: Western Kentucky
Date: Summer 2011
A lovely backdrop
Location: South Jordan, Utah, United States
Date: 2020-06-15
Location: Aberdeen, NC
Date: January 8, 2022
Adam's needle #86; RAB p. 299, 41-12-3; LHB p. 240, 34-6-3, "Orig
Location: Indiana zone 5
Date: 2013-06-05
newly emerging bloom spike
Location: Aberdeen, NC
Date: May 24, 2022
Adam's needle #86; RAB p. 299, 41-12-3;  LHB p. 240, 34-6-3, "Ori
Location: Invercargill, New Zealand
Date: 2020-02-12
Location: Brownstown Pennsylvania
Date: 2017-06-04
Location: Brownstown Pennsylvania
Date: 2017-06-04
Location: Winter Springs, Florida, United States
Date: 2020-01-04
Location: Kalama, Wa
Date: 2010-07-27
  • Uploaded by Joy
Location: Aberdeen, NC
Date: May 22, 2022
Adam's needle #86; RAB p. 299, 41-12-3;  LHB p. 240, 34-6-3, "Ori
Location: Hood, Alabama 
Date: 2023-01-06
Location: Vermont
Date: 2012-07-08
Location: Waukesha, Wi
Date: 2010-06-24
Location: My garden
Date: 2017-07-01
Location: Fairfax, Virginia (May 2022)
Date: 2022-04-05
Location: Fairfax, Virginia (May 2022)
Date: 2022-04-05
Location: South Jordan, Utah, United States
Location: South Jordan, Utah, United States
Location: Kalama, Wa.
Date: 2010-07-28
  • Uploaded by Joy
Location: Chicago
Date: 2020-06-22
Location: South Jordan, Utah, United States
Date: 2018-08-20
Dead stem showing the structure of the woody tissue in this plant
Location: Illinois, US
Date: 2010-07-26

photo credit: H. Zell
Location: Winter Springs, Florida, United States
Date: 2020-01-06
Location: Davis County, Utah, United States
Date: 2020-06-04
Rhizomes breaking out of a pot.
Location: Indiana  Zone 5
Date: 2010-03-12
open pods and seeds
Location: My garden in Kalama, Wa. Zone 8
Date: 2014-06-28
  • Uploaded by Joy
Location: South Jordan, Utah, United States
Date: 2018-07-23

Date: c. 1773
illustration by Georges Ehret from Trew's 'Plantæ selectæ', 177
Location: Indiana  Zone 5
Date: 2011-09-06
Location: Rehoboth Beach, Delaware
Date: 2010-09-08
wild plants in the dunes
Location: Downingtown, Pennsylvania
Date: 2008-06-14
plants in a driveway island
Location: In my garden in Kalama, Wa.
Date: 2009-07-12
  • Uploaded by Joy
Location: Western Kentucky
Date: Summer 2011
Fan shape

courtesy Sunlight Gardens, www.sunlightgardens.com
Location: Winter Springs, Florida, United States
Date: 2019-12-28
Photo by plantcollector
Location: Winter Springs, Florida, United States
Date: 2019-12-29
Photo by plantcollector
Location: South Jordan, Utah, United States
Location: My Garden
Date: 2012-09-13
Location: Fairfax, VA | September 2022
Location: Kalama, Wa.
Date: 2009-07-02
  • Uploaded by Joy

photo credit: H. Zell
Location: South Jordan, Utah, United States
Date: 2018-09-12
Glaucous wax on leaves.
Location: In a friends garden, Pleasant Grove, Utah
Date: 2012-04-02
Yucca filamentosa
Location: In my Wisconsin, zone 4 garden.
Date: 2013
Location: Kalama, wa
  • Uploaded by Joy

Date: 2012-11-07

Date: 2012-11-07

Date: 2012-11-07

Date: 2012-11-07

Date: 2012-11-07

Date: 2012-11-07

Date: 2012-11-07

Date: 2012-11-07
Location: Central Kansas (Zone 6b)
Date: 2015-06-08
Receives full sun all day
Location: Central Kansas (Zone 6b)
Date: 2015-06-08
Receives full sun all day
Location: South Jordan, Utah, United States
Date: 2018-08-28
Photo by threegardeners
Location: Winter Springs, Florida, United States
Date: 2019-12-28
Location: Winter Springs, Florida, United States
Date: 2019-12-29
Location: South Jordan, Utah, United States
Date: 2020-09-09
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Comments:
  • Posted by skopjecollection (SE europe(balkans) - Zone 6b) on Jun 24, 2023 5:07 AM concerning plant:
    Compared to the larger Y. gloriosa, this one has several distinctive features:
    -shorter stems, never observed to go above 10cm/ a few inches
    -hairs/fibers, hanging loosely at the leaf margins around the rosette,
    -thinner leaves, sometimes being mostly flat
    -profuse offshoots, more so than the gloriosa, if planted deep in a specific type of container it will resemble types of grass
    -hardier than gloriosa, it grows at several mountain resorts with no issue whereas gloriosa has been damaged by a hard winter in the cities
  • Posted by SongofJoy (Clarksville, TN - Zone 6b) on Jan 15, 2012 3:51 PM concerning plant:
    Adams Needle occurs in much of the eastern third of the US, and when you see it, you know you are in a pretty dry place. A member of the Agave family, it thrives in full sun and dry, very well-drained soil. Adams Needle forms 2&½ ft. evergreen clumps of sword-like, radiating, glaucous leaves that have thread-like fibers along their edges. In mid to late summer, large, showy, cream white flowers appear on 8' tall flower stalks. Not only is it bold and strong in texture, it is also a strong grower. Plant it where you want it because it is tough to kill. It would be very effective as a focal point, in groups, in an island planting, or in a rock garden where it is sunny and dry. It is also very urban tolerant and could be useful in blazing hot parking lot beds.
  • Posted by ILPARW (southeast Pennsylvania - Zone 6b) on Mar 14, 2018 1:09 PM concerning plant:
    The Adam's-Needle Yucca has a native range mostly in the sandy coastal plain of Long Island and New Jersey down through most of Georgia & Alabama through central Florida and a good part of Mississippi & Louisiana and then some spots in southeast & south central Pennsylvania and spots in the Appalachians southward and various spots in Kentucky in dry sandy meadows, rocky slopes, pine barrens, and beach & dune areas. It is a rosette of erect and bending sword-like leaves of coarse texture in a clump about 3 feet high that can hurt if touched wrongly, though it is not as prickly as most other species of yucca that can actually be sort of dangerous. It sends up its tall scape to 6 feet high with the bell-like white flowers in late June-July that are slightly fragrant and liked by hummingbirds. It produces a very deep, huge, white taproot and some deep lateral side shoots and it is difficult to transplant. If cut down, it keeps sprouting up from the deep taproot; not easy to get rid of if not wanted anymore. It looks dramatic in some kinds of landscapes as desert or beach or tropical style, but it is a "sore thumb" in other landscapes as it does not blend well with many plants as with birch, maple, aspen, and many fine-textured plants. It looks great with pines, junipers, palm trees, ornamental grasses, many annuals, some perennials, and some broadleaf evergreens. It is sold by most conventional nurseries, including some variegated cultivars, in the Eastern & Midwestern US. I see some planted in most neighborhoods, so it is common.
  • Posted by threegardeners (Brockville, Ontario, Canada - Zone 5a) on Sep 29, 2011 5:12 PM concerning plant:
    Zone 5a

    I grow these in full sun.
    The bloom spikes are huge and very eye-catching. The blooms last a long time.
    They enjoy my sandy soil and don't need any extra watering.
Plant Events from our members
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Discussion Threads about this plant
Thread Title Last Reply Replies
Untitled by Paul2032 Oct 25, 2011 2:02 PM 0
You sure of the ID by skopjecollection May 18, 2022 4:45 AM 1

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