Plant of the Week - Century Plant

Our Plant of the week is one common to the Phoenix Metro area and great for surviving in the desert climates. Even if you don't recognize the name, you have undoubtedly seen a century plant before, perhaps even got up close to inspect its long sharp spines. Known by many names the Agave americana's, common aliases are century plant, maguey, American aloe, Flowering Aloe, or Spiked Aloe. It is a species of flowering plant in the family Agavaceae, originally native to Mexico, Arizona, and Texas but cultivated worldwide as an ornamental plant. It has become naturalized in many regions including the West Indies, parts of South America, the Mediterranean Basin, parts of Africa, India, China, Korea, Thailand, New Zealand, Australia, and an assortment of oceanic islands. Being grown in so many places around the world speaks about this plants adaptive capabilities and willingness to survive many climates.

Despite the common names that use the term "aloe", it is not closely related to plants in the genus Aloe.

Although it is typically called the century plant, it only lives approximately 10 to 30 years ("century" being a gross exaggeration). The largest and possibly most majestic of the native agaves, it has a spread of about 6 to 10 feet, with gray-green leaves of 3 to 5 feet long. Each leaf has a prickly margin and a heavy spike at the tip that can pierce to the bone. As the leaves age they tend to fold down gracefully toward the base of the plant. Near the end of its life, the plant sends up a tall, branched stalk, laden with yellow blossoms that may reach a total height of up to 25 to 30 feet tall, using most of the plants remaining reserves. After its blooms, the original plant dies, but it is replaced by small off shoots around the base. 

In the desert it grows in dry, gravelly soils in the south, but is naturalized and grown farther north and west. Like most agaves, A. americana needs full sun and well-drained soil to thrive. It is extremely drought tolerant and moderately slow-growing. 

Supplemental water in dry summer months will make it grow faster, but care must be taken not to over water, especially in clay soils, because too much moisture will cause the roots to rot. It is hardy down to about 20 degrees Fahrenheit, and like most agaves, is tolerant of reflected heat. Several variegated forms of Agave americana are in cultivation. 

Keep in mind that Greens Keeper Landscape Maintenance can Help with your commercial landscape challenges!  Please contact us at; Sales: 623-848-8277 We serve businesses like yours throughout the entire Phoenix Metro Area.

"Agave americana R01" by Marc Ryckaert (MJJR) - Own work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Agave_americana_R01.jpg#/media/File:Agave_americana_R01.jpg

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