PlantFiles: Agave
Agave geminiflora

Zone 9b coastal Otago New Zealand.

I picked up a couple of bare rooted geminiflora pups off the net, and they arrived pretty dry and gasping. For some reason they look 'tender' and I worried that Id lose them but a year on, theyre flourishing and Im very happy with them.
They hold a lot of leaves at once, and eventually grow into a spiny hedgehog ball, looking very striking in a rockery or massed under larger succulents. My specimens are not very hairy or filimenty, their leaves being perfectly smooth and olive green with a single terminal spine, having an almost round cross section. Leaves radiate out from a rounded caudex-looking base. They are flexible and succulent, and if underwatered or sun stressed will actually shrivel a little to let you know it's feeling pinched, which is handy. Leaves fatten up again with water. Looks cool even when small.
I really like this guy; it forms a great eccentric contrast to other uniformly silvery agaves and when mature are a real punctuation mark in the garden. With a little attention to even watering, they become almost perfectly circular, though adversity will abruptly shorten the newest layer of leaves causing irregularity.
They present a low hazard level as far as spiny injuries are concerned, just dont forget about them when you're leaning down to weed!
Seems pretty cold hardy, mine have spent all of 09's cold and soggy winter outside (in pots) without looking stressed or rotty.
They look great potted on pillars or featured on a prominent rock.
Take wind and hail really well.
Nice!

I found this plant where I find most of my plants....foundering on a shelf in the gardening section of a home imporvement store. It did not look so good, and it was in the back in the dark, which I dont think it liked. It has gotten alot bigger since I brought it home.

I water it about once every two weeks, and it is planted in a mildly sandy soil. There are light green new fronds which have appeared recently, and its overall health is very good. This particular one has very little of the white "hairs" which I have heard some of these plants can get.

Saw this plant growing in melbourne botanic gardens has a magnificant flower spike, because it dosn't produce pups dies when flowers which is only once every 10 years! Will cope with frost. If in Melbourne check out the xeriscape beds in the botanic gardens which are full of succulents

Some examples of this species will exhibit no filaments or hairs on the cylindrical leaves.

Another 'hairy' or filamentous species of Agave (I am not that attracted to those) that looks a LOT like the local yuccas here in So cal. It has very thin, flexible, long leaves that are basically one long spine, with white, filamtentous 'hair'. There are hundreds of leaves per plant. It makes a good container plant. ONe of the few agaves that don't sucker. It also doesn't appear to be monocarpic. The one in first photo flowered last year and it's still there.

Got a new seedling recently and though it looks like Agave striata, it's spines are nearly harmless and rubbery.. much more user-friendly plant.