Grooming

• Yucca flowers, which bloom and wilt on a standard seasonal cycle, do not require regular maintenance pruning. Do not use pruning shears to trim away dead foliage from this plant. Instead, simply pull wilted leaves from the stem by gently picking them off with your fingers. It is not necessary to remove wilted leaves in order to maintain the yucca's health, but many gardeners choose to do so to keep their flowers looking neat and fresh.
  
  

Transplanting and Cutting

• Yucca flowers have something of a built-in defense system. When you attempt to dig out the root ball to transplant the yucca or cut the plant all the way down to the base, the plant is triggered to create more of itself. Yuccas will send out pups, or small shoots that begin to grow and become flowers in their own right. Additionally, the thick stem of the plant is incredibly hard to cut, so it is never advisable to do so.
  
  

Bloom Stalks

• The spiky bloom stalk that grows out of the yucca supports all of the plant's flowers. After this stalk appears and blooms in summer, blossoms will begin to age and wilt. Once the flowers have died and the season comes to a close, cut the bloom stalk as close to the base of the plant as the pruning shears will allow. When left in place, the stalks will only brown and wither, making the yucca plant look unattractive.
  
  

Yucca Species

• Red or yellow yucca (hesperaloe parviflora), desert spoon yucca and dasylirion wheeleri yucca should not be pruned or cut in any way to avoid damage to the plant. When the bloom stalks turn brown and begin to wither away, they may be removed by hand. Withered leaves may be peeled right off the stems with the fingers. Again, gardeners want to avoid cutting yucca plants and flowers if possible to prevent activating the yucca's natural self-defense mechanism, which will create many new yucca plants.