Exposure: Full Sun
Water: Low
Height and Spread:3” x 4”
Blooming Season: Summer
Description: Choose a spot in your landscape that has an area with full sun and well-drained soils. This cactus blooms beautiful pink flowers with yellow centers and typically blooms in the spring and early summer. The vibrant flowers will add pigment and excitement to any landscape. Flourishes in xeriscape, rock gardens, or low-water-use landscapes.
Exposure: Full sun
Water: Rain Water
Height and Spread: H 4’ X W 5'
Description: The Yucca Baccata Compacta originated in Mora in northeastern New Mexico. It is low maintenance and drought resistant. The huge fruit in the middle, which ripens in late summer and is edible in September, resembles bananas. Birds love to peck it. Add this evergreen desert accent to your native New Mexican plant collection.
Exposure: Full Sun, Part sun
Water: Rain Water
Height and Spread: H 3’ x W 4’
Blooming Season: Summer, Fall
Effectively grown in dry and sandy soils, the Red Yucca is a standout for its drought and heat tolerance. The beautiful red to pink flowers bloom from May to October and attract hummingbirds, butterflies, and bees. It’s a great accent plant for that sunny spot in your yard.
Exposure: Sun / Shade
Water: Rainwater
Height and Spread: 1’ x 5’ (when not in flower)
Blooming Season: April – August
Flower Color: Maroon
Region: All parts of the Greater Albuquerque region except the East Mountains
A succulent evergreen with spiny yellow-green rosettes of foliage, the Lechugilla is a dangerously striking specimen. Its rugged beauty is reminiscent of the landscapes where it grows naturally – the plains and mountains of the Chihuahuan Desert, including parts of western Texas and southern New Mexico. Select the Lechuguilla for its low water requirement, dramatic production of an outlandishly tall flower stalk, and value for bees and butterflies.
Locate the Lechuguilla with caution – plant only in an area where the sharp spines pose little risk to yourself or passersby. This plant is best appreciated from afar. An ideal location is in front of a south-facing wall, where its form can be appreciated. After producing the flower, the entire plant will die. However, since the Lechuguilla suckers, small offshoots will grow up in its place.
Paired with soft, complementary companions such as the Chocolate Flower, Lechuguilla provides an enduring architectural presence in the dry garden. It has a long history of use in soaps and textiles in the Chihuahuan Desert. Unique among agaves for its relatively small size, it is an excellent desert plant.
Full Sun, Part Shade
Low WaterMature Size: 8”X 8”
Blooming Season: Summer
Flower Color: Bright pink
This perennial relative of moss rose grows neat tufts of narrow succulent leaves topped with a continuous show of rose pink flowers every afternoon throughout the hot summer months. The flowers float above the leaves on wiry gold stems giving them a delicate appearance completely at odds with their resilient nature. They reseed easily in gravelly or sandy soil without becoming weedy. With Flameflower you can’t have too much of a good thing.
Full SunRainwater OnlyMature Size: 3’X 3’
Blooming Season: Early summer
Flower Color: White tinged pink
There are many species of Yucca that are native in the Southwest. They vary in height, leaf width and color but they are all reliably heat- and drought-resistant. Soapweed is one of the toughest; it is one of the smaller, narrow-leafed species that given enough time develops short stems and several clustered heads. Its bellshaped, waxy white, fragrant flowers are borne on short candelabra-like stems, the buds sometimes tinged rose-pink.