Yucca schidigera) palm
Yuccas of two varieties are in bloom in San Diego County from now through May. Year after year, the Mojave yucca (Yucca schidigera) sends up a blunt flower stalk of white, waxy blossoms from the same base a rosette of daggerlike leaves. The shimmering white exclamation point that unfolds above “our Lord’s candle” (Yucca whipplei), on the other hand, is a prelude to the plant’s imminent death. Mojave yucca is widely distributed along San Diego County’s coastal strip and throughout the higher elevations of the Anza-Borrego Desert. Our Lord’s candle prefers the scrubby coastal foothills and the drier slopes of the Palomar, Cuyamaca, and Laguna Mountains. The two yuccas coexist with each other in a few areas like Torrey Pines State Reserve and Anza-Borrego’s Culp Valley area.