Agave plant: A brief introduction

Agave is a long-leaved juicy plant that naturally forms a rosette shape and produces a flower spire of eye-catching cup-shaped blooms.

What are the common names for the Agave plant?

Sentry plant, century plant, maguey or American aloe are the most common names. Agave Americana is the scientific name.

Classification:

Division	Magnoliophyta
Class	Liliopsida
Subclass	Liliidae
Order	Liliales
Family	Agavaceae
Subfamily	Agavoideae
Genus	Agave L.
Species	A. americana
Kingdom	Plantae

How to care for Agave plant:

Agave plant needs full sun to part shade. It grows in a bright and sunny area. From spring to autumn, thoroughly water when the soil mix becomes dry. In winter, water sparingly for about 1 month. When planting an Agave plant Outdoors, water once or twice a week.

Soil:
Agave plant will grow in good drainage soil and agave plant prefers sandy or rocky Soil.

Fertilizer:
Give this plant a little number of fertilizers in the spring during the first two years. Feeding is not necessary for this plant.

Temperature:
During growing season, agave plants like warm temperature, while in winter, they Like cooler temperature.

Pot size:
Agave grow in any size of the container because they are shallow-rooted and do not Require much soil.

Plant growth:
The length of the plant is 1 to 20 feet and width 1 to 10 feet.

Pruning:
The best time to prune this plant is in early fall and late summer season. Prune again this plant in the early spring season. Remove damaged leaves of this plant.

Flowering data:

Flower	Cup-shaped
Domain	Eukaryote
Bloom Time	Only bloom once in their lifetime.
Flower color	Yellow, Green, White
Fruit	Red
Growth rate	Fast
Plant type	Perennial succulent
Evergreen	Yes
Leaf	Blue-green colour
Size of the leaf	Very large
The shape of the leaf	Spiny-edges
Attracts	Hummingbirds, bees

Plant Care:

Water	Medium
Sun	Full sun
Maintenance	medium
Soil pH	6.6 to 6.8
Required Soil drainage	well-drained
Level of Soil moisture	Moist
Preferred Soil Type	Sandy or rocky, dry, well-draining
Origin/native	Hot region of America

Read more about succulents

We have an in-depth article on succulents, if you want to learn more about different types of succulents, and how to take care of them.

Succulent Houseplant and different types

We also have articles on other spesific succulents here:

• Jade plant
• Agave plant: A brief introduction
• Acanthocereus tetragonus
• Prickly Pear: what you should know
• Butterfly stonecrop (Sedum spectabile)
• Orostachys plant care guide
• Echinopsis pachanoi
• Dunce cap (Orostachys) plant care guide