type : Perennials
sun exposure : Full Sun
water : Drought Tolerant, Moderate Water
Plant Details
Yucca and agave relatives with tough, narrow, grassy leaves, typically carried atop a thick trunk. Mature plants bear flowers; the blossoms are tiny, but they're usually borne on tall stalks that make for a good show. Good for dry areas; tolerate poor, alkaline soil. Not suited to areas with high rainfall and high humidity.
bear grass
nolina erumpens
- Zones MS, LS, CS, TS; USDA 7-11.
- Native to Mexico and western Texas.
- Sharp-edged, thick leaves to 3 feet long form a mound 34 feet tall, 6 feet wide.
- Showy spikes of creamy white flowers flushed with rose-pink rise several feet above the foliage, spring into summer.
devil's shoestring
nolina lindheimeriana
- Zones MS, LS, CS, TS; USDA 7-11.
- Native to Texas.
- Wiry, narrow, 2- to 3 feet-long leaves; foliage mounds reach 6 feet across.
- Wands of white flowers rise to 34 feet in late spring.
mexican grass tree
nolina longifolia
- Zones CS, TS; USDA 9-11.
- Native to central Mexico.
- In youth, forms a fountain (to about 6 feet wide) of grasslike, 3 feet-long, 1 inches-wide leaves.
- In time, the foliage fountain is carried atop a 6- to 10 feet trunk, sometimes with a few branches.
- White flowers come in late spring, on stalks up to 6 feet tall.
nelson's blue bear grass tree
nolina nelsonii
- Zones MS, LS, CS, TS; USDA 7-11.
- Slow-growing plant native to the deserts of northern Mexico.
- Forms a foliage rosette 35 feet tall and twice as wide; narrow (1- to 112 inches-wide), finely tooth-edged leaves are gray-green and flexible when young, silvery blue-gray and stiff when mature.
- In time, foliage is carried atop a 5- to 12 feet trunk.
- Dead leaves hang onto the trunk; remove them for a neater look.
- Blooms in summer, bearing creamy blossoms on a 7- to 10 feet spike.
- Dramatic and sculptural.
sacahuista, basket grass
nolina texana
- Zones MS, LS, CS; USDA 7-9.
- Native to Texas, the Southwest, and Mexico.
- Very grasslike foliage forms a mound 1122 feet tall and twice as wide.
- Stalks of creamy white blossoms are 1112 feet tall; they don't rise above the leaves.
- Blooms from spring into summer.
- Especially hardy.