Agaves - more than just a succulent

Agave types and benefits

Agave plants aren’t just a beautiful show off succulent for your San Diego landscape, it also has a whole list of amazing benefits!

You can easily grow these drought tolerant agave plants in pots, outside along your retaining walls, as dividers or even indoor (close to a window with light exposure) as a focal point. This plant can grow beautiful and big and requires minimal maintenance.

Agaves have been used for centuries for its hair and skin improving benefits, healing ointments on scares, rashes and wounds and one specific kind, the blue agave is used in preparation for tequila.

So beside the already amazing and hard to argue with landscaping benefits of this plant, lets talk a little more about the different types of agaves:

The agave plant has over 200 species and they grow mostly in desert like areas along South America and central America all the way to Mexico.

Almost all of these species can be used in your backyard paradise but I will give you some of the most popular types and :

Agave americana: This plant has beautiful blue-green leaves with prominent saw-toothed spines. It also grows quite large, which makes this kind a top of the list pick for filling in your landscaping with botanics. Agave americana is best when planted directly into the ground and used without a pot.
Agave victoriae-reginae or often referred to as Queen Victoria Agave, is a smaller species that grows great in your pots or as a border plant since it will only reach about 18” height. This plant will live for about 20-30 years and looks like a gorgeous sculpture.
Agave Blue Glow reaches a height of about 1.5-2 feet and spreads for 2-3 feet. This kind grows fairly slow in comparison to others. It has a dense arrangement of blue green leaves.
Filifera is better known by its name Thread Agave. This very beautiful species has dark green leaves with a bronze tint on the ends. It grows string like white threads between along the edges of its leaves. Thread agave are medium sized plants with a height of 2 feet and spread of 3 feet.
Agave Attenuata (Foxtail Agave) is a very popular plant for bigger commercial landscaping projects since it grows for about 5 feet high and 5 feet wide and doesn’t have spikes. It has wide curved looking leaves in a light green color.
Agave blue flame has elegant green blue leaves that are slightly curved. It grows up to 3 feet tall and 4 feet wide. A perfect addition for your outdoor space since it can live in dry or well moist soil, full sun and also part shade. Very low in maintenance.
Agave Tequilana ( you can guess where Tequila got its name from) is the blue agave plant. Unlike its other species this agave lives in high altitudes and prefers well-drained and sand soil. The blue agave can live for decades and grows pretty large.
Agave Parryi (Artichoke Agave) and Agave Potatorum (Butterfly Agave) have similar characteristics with its wide leaves and spikes around the edges. Both are medium sized plants and make up a beautiful potted plant indoors or outdoors.
Last but not least there is the Agave Vilmoriniana but also better known as the octopus agave (take a look at the picture and you will understand why). This agave is a very unusual succulent variation and can grow quite big, It is a great solution for a “friendly” spike free agave if you have kids or pets around the house.
EcodesignSD prefers to use Agave Blue Flame and Agave Atenuata for our landscaping projects due to their elegant and beautiful appearance, low maintenance and tolerance in full sun or part shade environments.