Flowering red yucca waves at drivers navigating traffic on Dallas’ Central Expressway

A recent trip to Dallas brought to light a beautiful landscaping solution for the inferno strip that divides north and south-bound traffic on chronically congested Highway 75: Flowering red yucca.

I literally gasped in delight upon leaving an old friend’s house heading south on the much traveled highway, locally known as “Central” or “Central Expressway.” Hundreds–thousands?–of this plant with purpose bloomed from the concrete medium, its reddish-pink flowers dangling from the evergreen’s shoots, waving at drivers racing past.

Flowering red yucca is actually a member of the asparagus family. The flowers are edible. –Photo by Monika Maeckle

Known as Flowering red yucca, red yucca, coral yucca, hummingbird yucca, samandoque, and false yucca, the latter name may be the most apt for this plant. Why? Because Hesperaloe parviflora is not a yucca at all.

Taxonomically, red yucca began in the agave family because of its physical resemblance to yuccas and agaves. It was later reclassified in the aloe family and more recently, the asparagus family. Now several species of Hesperaloe are recognized. The Latin name Hesperaloe parviflora translates to “fake aloe with small flowers.”

The flowers that emerge from the panicles, or spikes, show themselves in the spring and can flourish until fall. They make the plant resemble a rose-colored asparagus stalk before they fully open. Red yucca flowers are edible–although you likely wouldn’t want to harvest specimens from IH75/Central Expressway, given the danger of doing so and the likelihood that these blooms have been exposed to heavy doses of pollutants.

I’m not the only driver to notice these reassuring plants, which span 10 miles along IH75, from the exchange at LBJ Freeway in north Dallas all the way downtown to Exit 1 at Hall Street. Paul Ridenour posted a photo of the impressive hedge on Facebook in mid May, sparking myriad supportive comments.

“I always love it when I can go down Central when traffic is light so I can actually enjoy seeing them,” commented Melinda Thompson Weston. “It’s beautiful,” wrote Coralis M. Martin. Susan Nance added “Beautiful idea.”

Flowering Red yucca on Dallas’ IH75/Central Expressay. –Photo courtesy Paul Ridenour

In an earlier Facebook post, David Schott called out the landscaping choice, lauding Red yucca as “the ‘iron man’ of landscape species” in Central Texas. “High temps, miserable micro-climate, insufficient soil depth, and I can’t imagine they get much maintenance. And yet thriving abs pushing out this amazing red screen! Well done TXDOT – nailed it!”

Nailed it indeed. When Central Expressway was widened in 2000, extensive landscaping was installed that called for multiple irrigation stations in the median, according to Tony Hartzel, Northeast Texas Section Director in the communications division for TXDOT.  The resulting execution of watering the plants turned out to be “very challenging and kept failing.”

Finally,  TXDOT tapped the Green Ribbon Landscape Improvement Program, which encourages partners to use regionally appropriate drought tolerant native and well adapted plants appropriate to their region and the situation,

Partnering with the City of Dallas, TXDOT installed the plants in 2017-2018 and handled maintenance until April 2019. As the Dallas Morning News noted in a June 2018 article, “Per their landscape maintenance agreement, they’ll then pass the shovel to the city of Dallas, which will be responsible for long-term maintenance.”

Want to learn more about Red yucca and other Plants with Purpose? Check out my book!

Hartzel explained that an average of 200,000 cars per day drive past the Red yuccas, and that summer temperatures combined with radiant heat can climb to  to 140 – 150 degrees or higher. TXDOT has installed expansion joints in bridges to prevent buckling in response to the heat.

Will we see more wise landscaping choices by local and state governments? Keep your fingers crossed. “Our focus is moving people from one point to the next,” said Hartzel. “Any time they stop and notice the plants along the way, that’s really nice.”