Variegated smooth agave
Location
Cactus & Succulent Garden
Agave desmetiana ‘Variegata’
- Common Name: Variegated Smooth Agave (other common names: Dwarf Century Plant, Variegated Smooth Century Plant ‘Variegata’, Maguey Semati, Dwarf Variegated Agave, Golden Moments, Maguey, Century Plant)
- Scientific Name: Agave desmetiana ‘Variegata’
- Family Name: Asparagaceae
- Origin: Mexico
- Height: 2’ – 3’
- Width: 4’ – 6’
- Growth: fast
- Zone: 9B – 11
- Light Needs: Full sun – Partial shade – full shade
- Salt Tolerance:
- Soil/PH/Texture: any cactus like potting soil will work for this un-picky plant.
- Soil Moisture: average water needs but do not over water – water when soil is completely dry to the touch.
- Drought Tolerance: high
- Pests/Diseases: virtually disease and pest free besides the occasional slug or snail that may eat the leaves or rot root from over watering.
- Growing Conditions: easy to grow and low maintenance
- Characteristics: grown for its foliage that is a rosette with dark blue-green leaves with a yellow variegation on the spiney margins, thick, rigid, and lanceolate-linear in shape, have a reddish terminal sharp spine, are 3’ long, 4” wide. The blooms are pale yellow, form on a 8’ tall stalk in the center of its rosette once in its lifetime in about 8 – 10 years, and appear in mid spring to mid fall but because they are monocarpic, they die after flowering.
- Propagation: by dividing rhizomes, bulbs, corms, tubers, pups, or offsets, by leaf cuttings and from seed.
- Wildlife: attracts birds and butterflies
- Facts: may be a noxious or invasive weed and the sap can cause blistering and reddening that can last up to two weeks. Itching can occur up to a year later w/o a rash appearing.
- Designer Considerations: can be used in mass plantings, as an accent plant, border, in a cactus, desert, succulent or rock garden, great for xeriscaping and can be a container plant on a patio or deck.
