Agaves (Agave spp.) Possess a daring, interesting look and few maintenance requirements. The hardiness of the succulent perennials varies widely depending on the species, but most are drought- and heat-tolerant, thanks, in large part, to root and leaf system adaptations.
Leaves
Agave leaves are succulent or semi-succulent and are short and broad in certain species while long and narrow in others. The fleshy agave leaves, which vary in color from green to bluish- or grayish-green and sometimes striped or mottled, are arranged in rosettes that may measure from only a few inches wide to more than 12 feet across and tall. Agave leaf margins usually have sharp spines and each leaf tip generally includes a sharp stiff spine, although a couple of agave species lack spines.
Flower Stalk and Flowers
As an agave plant ages, it builds, over many years, a great deal of sugar and starch from the heart tissue in the center of the rosette of leaves, fueling the growth of a tall, branched or unbranched flower stalk, usually after at least 10 to 30 years of vegetative growth. The rapidly developing stalk can rise 6 to 40 feet above the rosette and the short, tubular flowers on top of the stalk are white, yellowish or rose-colored.
Root System
The agave’s root system is shallow and doesn’t extend far beyond the above-ground part of the plant, but it is extensive and dense. The agave root process is intended to help the agave efficiently capture moisture from rain, condensation and dew. Many agaves also produce underground suckers that permit the plant to multiply and form colonies, which may become quite large. Excellent drainage about agave origins is extremely important.
Pups and Bulbils
While nearly all agaves die shortly after flowering, most produce vegetative offshoots known as pups, or suckers, prior to or after flowering. Each pup, that emerges from near the base of the parent plant, has a rosette of leaves itself. These pups can form colonies, if left intact, or you can dig them up and sever them in the parent agave and plant them elsewhere. Many species of agave produce bulbils, or plantlets, on the flowering stalk.
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