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Description: This is a popular
rosetting succulent, as
plants get older, they produce stout trunks 50 to 150 cm tall, and form
clumps to 140 cm across with individual rosettes that may reach 100 cm
wide.
Stems: Stout curving , often branched, smooth grey stems that
rise up to 100cm tall (unusual among agaves) and eventually old leaves
fall off, leaving them naked and visible.
Leaves: Wide, soft, ovate-accuminate, 50-70 cm long and 12-16 cm
large. The leaves are powdery green, light yellowish green or grey/blue
green, somewhat translucent, There are no teeth, nor terminal spines,
although the leaves taper to points that fray with age. They emerge from
a tight central spear to arch gracefully back, looking a bit like a
large open green flower.
Flowers: Flowers are pale greenish yellow on a dense raceme
1,5-3,5 long .
Over
many months the
vertical flower stalk
develops,
first
as a mass of green buds which open from the bottom up into flowers of
greenish-yellow,
then it reflexes back towards
the ground before arching upward again. The flowers are followed by seed
pods and from
the axils of the flowers many new "plantlets" (or bulbils) will sprout,
meanwhile the mother rosette slowly dies. But sometime - unlike
other members of it's family - this plant doesn't die after flowering.
Blooming Time:
Spring. It may take up to 10 years to bloom.
Some
extremely beautiful variegated cultivars have been described. The variegated forms
are among of the much sought after
and highly prized agaves by collectors, but they are very
expensive. In fact the variegated plants are very very hard
to propagate, and they almost never have pups, the little offsets that
grow at the base of the plant.
Cultivation:
Agave attenuata is an
excellent plant which works well with other succulents or even tropical
plant material. It is well suited for a container inside or a sheltered
warm spot outdoors.
It is a frost tender plant and
it will usually be
severely damaged in temperatures below -2° C.
Although
Agave attenuata
survives in poor soils and can tollerate
full coastal sun to to full shade,
it does best in rich but
well-drained soil mix
( 2 parts peat moss to 1 part loam to 1 part of pumice) with half sun
exposures. The plant is extremely drought tolerant but does better with
ample moisture
and grows quickly if kept
well watered and nourished (Slow release fertilizer applied once or
twice a year is usually sufficient).
During the winter months, one should only water enough to keep the
leaves from shrivelling. Plants cultivated outdoors are more drought
tolerant and can take some heat and full sun.
It tolerates seaside conditions
too.
Protect from snails which can also
disfigure the plant.
Offsets or 'pups' can be removed to
maintain the strong architectural lines of the agave and provide great
additional plants, or left to form a clump.
Propagation:
By seeds or by
removing
suckers
produced at the
base of older plants or using
the thousands
of small bulbils produced on its' entire flower stalk length. Seeds
germinate readily when they are fresh.
The basal suckers can be removed in spring or summer,
letting the cuttings dry for a few days before inserting in compost. |
