Century plant
Also called American aloe, Maguey.
| Light | full sun |
|---|---|
| Water | Every 21 days in the growing season, every 60 in winter |
| Humidity | low |
| Difficulty | easy |
| Height | Up to 150 cm (59 in) tall |
| Pets | Cats not known, dogs not known |
Source: ASPCA Animal Poison Control, toxic and non-toxic plants, no entry for Agave americana.
A serious plant rather than a decorative one. A mature rosette is two metres across, the leaf edges are lined with hooked teeth and each leaf ends in a hard spine that is at eye height on a raised bed. Place it where nobody walks past it and cut the terminal spines off with secateurs if children use the garden. The name comes from the flowering: not a century but twenty to thirty years, at the end of which it throws up a flower spike several metres tall, sets seed and dies, leaving offsets around the base. It wants full sun, poor gritty ground and no water at all through the cold months, because it dies of winter wet rather than winter cold.
Ailments observed
| A soft or mushy base to the stem | Winter wet, which is what kills agaves rather than winter cold. Move it under cover for the wet months or plant it on a slope or a gravel bed. It survives frost on dry ground and rots on wet ground at five degrees. |
|---|---|
| Long bare stems and pale new leaves | Not enough light, so the rosette opens out and the leaves go soft and pale. It needs full sun and there is no substitute. A plant grown soft never firms up again. |
Filed underPlants that forgive a beginner, Succulents and cacti, Statement plants, Plants for infrequent watering
Neighbouring entries
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Echeveria elegansEcheveria care on a sunny windowsill, with the soak and dry watering it wants, why the rosette stretches, and how to grow new plants from a single leaf.
Jade plant
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