Evergreen perennialDrought tolerantPollinatorsNative

Desert Spoon

Dasylirion wheeleri

A long-lived desert plant with an arching rosette of blue-grey, saw-edged leaves and dramatic flower spikes that draw pollinators. It's very drought tolerant once settled. Give it excellent drainage and a gravel mulch, since heavy soil rots it, and keep it away from paths, as the leaf teeth catch skin and clothing.

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Desert Spoon: whole plant — Photo: I, NobbiP, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Mature size: 5 × 4.5 ft; 1.5 × 1.4 m, tall × wide
Hardiness: Zones 7a–11b; USDA
Sun: Full sun
Water: Dry
Blooms: May–Jul

Desert Spoon at its mature size

A mature Desert Spoon grows to about 5 ft tall and 4.5 ft wide.

Drawn to scale beside a 5 ft 9 in person. With VeraScape, you see it at this size in your own yard.

Typical mature size, unpruned. Sources: San Marcos Growers, Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, USDA PLANTS.

Through the year

What Desert Spoon looks like month by month in a typical zone 6–7 garden.

In leaf · Year-round

Dense rosette of narrow blue-gray toothed leaves.

Photos

Desert Spoon: detail — Detail · James St. John, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Growing Desert Spoon

Grows well in: The desert Southwest, the Plains and Mountain West, and California.
Growth rate: Slow
Good for: Drought tolerant and pollinators
Leaves: Evergreen
Native to: Arizona, New Mexico, West Texas, and Northern Mexico

Spacing

VeraScape spaces plants so their grown canopies just touch. For Desert Spoon, that’s about 4.5 ft apart, center to center.

Place a row in your own yard and VeraScape spaces them at their mature width, so you can see whether they’ll crowd the walk.