The Ivory Tower Yucca, otherwise known as the Yucca Filamentosa ‘Ivory Tower’ is a pretty well known annual plant by gardening enthusiasts around the world.
Best known for its low maintenance and moderate growth, this annual will likely liven up your house (or garden) with its green colored leaves. But, only if you learn how to take proper care of it for it to thrive.
Fortunately, taking care of your Ivory Tower Yucca is not too difficult – as long as you follow our guidelines in this Ivory Tower Yucca Care Guide. Now let’s get started.
The basic care guidelines you need to remember for your Ivory Tower Yucca are the following:
- Water: The Ivory Tower Yucca needs at least weekly watering, or more in extreme heat, preferably with regular water.
- Light: Keep your Yucca Filamentosa ‘Ivory Tower’ in an environment where it can receive full sun on a daily basis.
- Soil: Make sure to keep the Ivory Tower Yucca in soil with moist but well-draining to well draining properties, so ideally, one that is made of clay, loam, chalk, and sand.
That’s it – sunlight, water and soil! The basic 3 fundamentals for all plant care, and with the Ivory Tower Yucca this is no exception. With these three elements, your leafy friend will live healthy and happy.
Scientific / Botanical Aspects
In botanical terms, the Ivory Tower Yucca belongs to the Asteraceae family, the genus Zinnia and the species Elegans, hence its scientific (or botanical) name Yucca Filamentosa ‘Ivory Tower’ (YUK-uh fil-a-men-TOH-sa).
As with other Zinnia’s, the Ivory Tower Yucca is an evergreen plant, which means it will be present year round in your garden.
Growing Region
The Ivory Tower Yucca is a plant native to the Mexico.
You might be wondering why your Ivory Tower Yucca’s native region is important. Well, if you know where your plant originally came from, you’ll know which environment conditions it prefers, and with it, knowledge on how to replicate it at home.
With this in mind, the Yucca Filamentosa ‘Ivory Tower’ will be most used to the heat zones in the 1 – 12 region, as the plant hardiness level falls between 2b, 2a, 3b, 3a, 4a, 4b, 5a, 5b, 6a, 6b, 7a, 7b, 8b, 8a, 9b, 9a, 10a, 10b, 11a, 11b and the ideal climate zone is between 1, 1A, 1B, 2, 2A, 2B, 3, 3A, 3B, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, H1, H2.
Growth and Size
Growth
In terms of size and growth, the Ivory Tower Yucca is a relatively moderate grower, which makes things somewhat easy for any plant enthusiast.
Size
But, what size of Ivory Tower Yucca are we talking about? What can you expect in terms of height, spread and spacing? Let’s dig in…
The Yucca Filamentosa ‘Ivory Tower’ can grow up to 3′ – 4′ (90cm – 120cm) in 3′ – 4′ (90cm – 120cm) and 1′ – 2′ (30cm – 60cm) in 1′ – 2′ (30cm – 60cm).
These dimensions make the Ivory Tower Yucca a relatively medium annual compared to others, so it’s best to keep this fact in mind since it will affect where you want to keep yours at home.
This is why experts recommend keeping an area of approximately 15″ – 18″ (37cm – 45cm) free so the Ivory Tower Yucca can spread to its best extent.
Water
In terms of watering, the Ivory Tower Yucca is a fairly simple plant to take care of.
This is mostly because it has a straightforward watering schedule and somewhat regular watering needs.
Specifically, most experts agree that the Yucca Filamentosa ‘Ivory Tower’ needs at least weekly watering, or more in extreme heat, preferably with regular water.
Which is why it is considered a plant with relatively average needs in terms of water.
Watering
As a rule of thumb, you should remember to keep your Ivory Tower Yucca in soil with moist but well-draining to well draining characteristics, as these will guarantee the right conditions for your plant to grow and thrive.
When you consider this, this is why you should aim to choose soil that has good drainage, and occasionally dry properties to keep the right moisture levels at all times.
But, if you want a ‘one-size-fits-all’ solution to watering your Ivory Tower Yucca then you should consider the famous ‘finger’ test. To perform this test, you just need to put your finger in your plant’s soil and determine if it’s moist or not. If it is, then don’t water; if it isn’t, then please do. In any case, this test will allow you to know if your Ivory Tower Yucca needs or does not need water, every time.
Soil Mix
As mentioned earlier, the Ivory Tower Yucca prefers to have soil with good drainage, and occasionally dry properties at all times, reason why you need to make the soil mix out of clay, loam, chalk, and sand.
This is why most experts agree that the Ivory Tower Yucca requires soil with high organic matter, and loam (silt), which will give you the right conditions it needs.
In addition to this, expert gardeners recommend having preferably alkaline, acid or neutral soil.
Light and Exposure
In terms of light & exposure, the Ivory Tower Yucca requires full sun in order for it to thrive under the right conditions.
Most experts agree that this annual will do well as long as you keep it in full sun, and it will be able to grow properly.
Specifically, we recommend that you place your Yucca Filamentosa ‘Ivory Tower’ in full and direct sun (more than 6 hours of direct sunlight per day).
Season
Being an evergreen plant, the Ivory Tower Yucca will be present year round in your garden.
But, you can expect it to have its ‘prime-time’ during the summer (early, mid, late), and during the fall.
Flowers
You can expect your Ivory Tower Yucca to flower around the summer and in the fall months from July to September (summer), and from October to December (fall).
In particular, this annual is well known for its showy flowers around the plant enthusiast community.
The Ivory Tower Yucca produces some beautiful white, or red/burgundy,purple/lavender,green, gold/yelloworange,pink, and white flowers around this time of year.
Foliage
The leaves from the Ivory Tower Yucca have a beautiful green color during most of the year.
In particular, they have a simple arrangement with a opposite organization in its leaves.
You can expect the leaves from your Yucca Filamentosa ‘Ivory Tower’ to be around (1-3 inches) in size.
Attracts, Tolerance and Resistance
The Ivory Tower Yucca is well known for being able to attract butterflies, birds and hummingbirds, so keep that in mind when choosing your plant, as you’ll likely end up finding one or another in your garden.
Additionally, it has a special tolerance for drought conditions, so don’t worry if any of these come along, your Yucca Filamentosa ‘Ivory Tower’ will be fine.
Garden
Now, let’s talk garden and how your Ivory Tower Yucca will look best in it.
Most Yucca Filamentosa ‘Ivory Tower’ owners agree that this annual will look great in most rustic, contemporary mediterranean, and xeric gardens of all types.
Other owners consider that they complement well most gardens of cutting garden, prairie and meadow, city and courtyard, informal and cottage, and in traditional garden styles.
In particular, the Ivory Tower Yucca’s best location within your garden is in beds and borders, and in patio and containers, others use it for landscaping in a container, border, poolside, coastal exposure, firescaping/fire wise, or a rock garden.
Companion Plants
Ivory Tower Yucca’s do well with some other plants beside it. One good companion plant is the Coreopsis, which will pair up nicely with your leafy friend.
Others consider that a nice Caesalpinia will work well too, so choose whichever you find works best for you!
Conclusion
So that’s it! These are the main plant care requirements that you need to keep in mind in order to have a healthy Ivory Tower Yucca in your garden or home.
