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California-Friendly Plant: Desert Agave
 The enduring desert agave is a long-living plant with an attractive but quick end. It will thrive for 20 to 40 years, and then die after mustering up its one and only bloom of flowers. This
California-Friendly plant will provide an excellent addition to any water-wise garden, providing a southwestern flare for decades.
Considered an annual because of its one-time flowering, the desert agave could be the ultimate low-water-use plant. Its large, fleshy leaves thrive in full sun with little to no water, storing the water it does receive for two to three decades in preparation for its big show, where the plant will send up a flowering stalk that is six to 18 feet tall. The tube-shaped flowers accumulate on the top half of the stalk, and are a vivid bright yellow. Once the flowers finish blooming, the desert agave’s energy is spent, and the plant will begin to wither and die. The flowers leave behind suckers that will eventually create a new agave plant, and the decades-long cycle begins anew.
Desert Agave | Agave deserti
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| Season: |
Year round |
|
| Size: |
2 ft. tall and wide |
| Color: |
Green with yellow flowers |
| Water: |
Low |
| Sun: |
Full sun |
|
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