Red yucca gives you a tidy blue-green rosette of narrow, arching blades, about 2 feet tall and 2 feet wide, that holds its shape all year. It sends up tall slender spikes of coral-red tubular flowers, and hummingbirds work them for months.

Give it full sun and sharp drainage, and it will shrug off drought. Wet ground is the one thing it won't forgive, so plant it high in gravelly soil. Good for rock beds, dry slopes, and the hot edge of a border.