Bonnie Nowicki
As you mentally plan your fall landscaping chores and additions, please consider planting agaves and aloes as stunning accent plants. There’s a tremendous variety to pick from. I wish to concentrate on smaller specimens, not the huge blue agave Americana, etc.
Most agaves are short-stemmed, rosette-forming succulents. They tolerate our rocky native soil, but it must be well-drained. When planting in the fall, fan out the roots and water immediately, then every four days for the first month. Water sparingly over the winter. Fertilizer is not necessary, and please resist pruning—it invites infection. Just remove dead leaves and spent flower stalks.
Native Parry’s agave has gray, spiny-edged leaves rimmed in maroon. Solitary A. victoriae-reginae has a tight rosette with ridged, dark green leaves marked with white. A. lophantha has flat green leaves rimmed with white and is a rapid spreader. My favorite, Agave lophantha “Quadricolor,” is a small, variegated showstopper that also spreads.
Aloes, like agaves, grow in all types of well-drained soil and need no soil amendments or fertilizer. Aloes are beautiful succulents, ideal for our Quail Creek gardens. Winter-blooming flowers on long stalks are irresistible to hummingbirds. Coral aloe (aloe striata) has wide, light green leaves with coral flowers. A. Saponaria is a small clumping aloe with yellow flowers. Aloe variegata (partridge breast aloe) with peach flowers is another favorite.
You may not know that aloes and agaves are useful fire retardants. They have a high moisture content and plant material that doesn’t burn well. Where the fire danger is high, a row of these plants is recommended. These low desert succulents are worthy of some landscape space. They won’t disappoint.
Happy gardening!