Herself’s Houston Garden

This plant was abandoned in the free pile at the extension office a few weeks back. I thought, gosh, there are almost no roots will it make it? But then you’ve heard the adage about gardeners bearing gifts? So here it is and time will tell if it will take, or take over.

Century plant gets extremely large. Leaves can reach 6′ in length, the flower stalk will be 20-40′ tall when it decides to bloom. The century plant can reach 7′ in height with an 8′-12′ spread. Most are fast growing plants, some grow so fast you can feel the heat escaping if you put your hands near the leaves on a cool day.

Most agaves are too large for city gardens.   So plant with lots of room and caution.  Removing agave plants is not fun.  RoundUp and such do not usually effect them. You’ll be doing the removal by hand if needed.

This is a desert plant, so give it full sun and little water. It is named century plant because early botanists thought it only bloomed once every 100 years. It’s not quite this bad. Most will bloom after 10 years in a given location. After blooming the mother plant dies and babies will appear from the ground near the mother plant.

Watch the sap when trimming it, it will cause skin irritations.

These make great barrier plants.  The points are extremely sharp.  Many growers clip the point on the tip off a little.  Think of it as declawing the plant.

Some agaves stay compact as a single plant, while others send out runners with babies. Agaves die after flowering.  Flowers are generally white or yellow and on very tall stalks.  It takes about 50 years to go from seed to flower for most agaves.

Smaller agaves, especially slower growing agaves make good container plants.

These agaves were not bothered by several freezes last winter, not summer heat. Other’n the fact they try to take over the place they make a great landscape plant.

While this is not the preferred agave for making tequila  it has been used in a pinch when enough of the agave salmiana and mapisaga can’t be found.  Fibers created from the leaves were commonly used in cord and cloth by the Mayas and Aztecs and are still used in production today.

Agaves can handle cold or wet but not both.

Agaves can handle cold or wet but not both.

See also:
Rare plant towers over owner’s house

Beautyberry can be found growing wild along the paths all over The Woodlands. It is a deciduous bush with bright purple berries that appear late summer. It has been found to be an insect repellent and is recommended as a natural way to help keep mosquitoes away.

The berries are very astringent but will be eaten by the birds and other wildlife late winter when other food supplies have vanished. Flowers are tiny, lilac and appear late spring.

The shrub will reach 7′-8′ in height.

Dappled shade is best, it does not mind bad soil and is drought tolerant once established. In full sun leaves become a more yellow-green color. It prefers slightly acidic soil so add vinegar to water occasionally in years when we don’t have much rainfall.

Flowers and berries are on new growth so prune heavily late winter.

This is a good plant for adding color to wooded, shady areas where it is otherwise difficult to grow plants.  It grows wild along the pathways here in full sun to part shade and in dry to wet areas. It should need little care once established.