PlantFiles: Agave
Agave franzosinii

Very easy to maintain and transplants easily (even when mishandled!). My father had one shoot off a few sucker plants right before it bloomed and died, and we moved all 5 to along the front of my winding driveway. I only watered them a few times that first year (2000) and never since, and they are a big and beautiful way to greet visitors to my home. I hope to post pictures soon! (although I am not looking forward to removing them once dead).

I would also like to mention that the flowering stalk on my father's was so huge (over 20 feet easily) that it collapsed from it's own weight!! My dad kept calling it his "giant asparagus".

Original specimens found in Mexico were taken to Italy in the 19th century. Its Latin name is taken from the Italian villa where it became established. It was never seen in the wild in Mexico again.

Individual rosettes flower once and then die, leaving pups at the base which then grow to maturity. Flower stalks can reach 25 feet tall.

Not appropriate for most residential landscape situations because of its size and the difficulty of removing a mature specimen once it dies. Requires the use of a backhoe, chain saw and extreme caution to remove it because of its dangerous spines and large size.

These examples of in The Ruth Bancroft Garden in Walnut Creek, California. They are huge, showy blue-gray plants best seen from a distance.

I've never owned one of these myself but I know several people here in northeast Florida (U.S.) that do.

One place I know is a business that has them all sizes from small to huge growing all around outside the fence surrounding their property and I just have to see them whenever I go that way. Some people in my neighborhood have several small ones that are currently blooming. Nice!

Some think this might be a variation of the common Agave americana (the common "Century Plant"), but it has some distinctive differences. It tends to be a larger plant, and doesn't sucker as profusely- actually, the best forms do not sucker at all... but unfortunately the few suckering forms are the easiest to propogate, so those are the forms usually for sale. It also has strikingly white leaves compared to the bluer leaves of A. americana.

Many Agaves are currently being sold as this species but in fact are something completely different. Leaves should be wide (up to a foot in diameter), with large, widely spaced marginal teeth and a very large, long, prominent terminal spine (most plants sold as this have relatively narrow leaves and small, closely spaced marginal teeth, and rarely have whitish leaves, but pale blue, pale turquoise or even pale green leaves). Leaves should be extremely pale- no turquoise or green coloration, though very pale blue is the color under the powdery film on them. Plants mature at an enormous size (at least five to six feet tall) and, as mentioned above, offset reluctantly (they do, but by flowering time, only 1-4 suckers normally have been produced).