The MGS Forum

Our gardens, a month-by-month pictorial diary of what's looking good now => Our Gardens => Topic started by: MikeHardman on July 08, 2012, 01:43:19 PM

Title: Agave americana in all its glory
Post by: MikeHardman on July 08, 2012, 01:43:19 PM
This impressive specimen is in flower in a friend's garden now, conveniently situated next to an 8ft high container to help provide a sense of scale.
Title: Re: Agave americana in all its glory
Post by: ritamax on July 08, 2012, 08:58:39 PM
Our seaside is full of them... An imposing weed it is! In botanical garden in Valencia they just digged out their agaves and informed everyone to do so in their garden.
Here an excerpt of Australian government's fact sheet on Agave americana:
"The problem:
Also known as ‘century plant’, this large native succulent of southern North America
has been widely used as a garden ornamental.  However, it has now become
an invasive weed of bushland, roadsides and wastelands.
The plant reproduces and spreads both by seed and by suckering. The plant is very hardy,
tolerating a wide range of soil conditions and thriving in hard, dry country – as well as sand dunes.
Weed status:
Agave is an environmental weed. An environmental weed is an invasive plant
which can disrupt native flora communities and ecosystems."
Title: Re: Agave americana in all its glory
Post by: cicerone on August 08, 2012, 04:23:40 PM
My dad has a story about this plant that I didn't remember until I saw this. When he moved to California from New York, his backyard contained one of these plants in full flower. Not knowing what this monster plant was, and wanting to plant familiar roses and other plants he was familiar with, he hacked it down. His neighbor then told him it was a Century plant that had waited 100 years to flower (not true but it can be 10-30 years).

My dad is a superb gardener, but other than garden herbs, he never took to desert/mediterranean plants. As you might expect, there was a lot of rototilling and watering going on to fight against the environment we lived in...