Woody lilies love the heat
Queen Victoria agave ( Agave victoriae-reginae)
The only Austinites not complaining about the heat and drought right now are the woody lilies, i.e., the agaves, yuccas, sotols, manfredas, and hesperaloes. Yesterday we endured a high of 107 F (41.6 C) after a long string of 100+ degree days. Central Texas is suffering from an extreme drought going on three years. Why, one might ask, are there so many enthusiastic gardeners in such an extreme climate?
Whenever I ask myself this despairing summer question, I stop. I remember that summer is our difficult season, like late winter for northern gardeners. And I appreciate all the more the wonderful plants that drink up the heat and shrug off drought. I aspire to be more like them, the wonderful woody lilies.
Agave-lover Loree at Danger Garden—basking, I’m sure, in mild Portland temperatures—dedicated a recent post to her agaves, a tribute to her hot-zone envy. I have cool-zone envy at the moment, but following her lead—and celebrating the plants that I don’t have to baby during our annual trial-by-fire—I decided to post about my woody lilies too.
Slow-growing Queen Victoria agave (Agave victoriae-reginae ). I’ve had this plant for about 8 years, and in all that time it’s grown only about 4 or 5 inches wider and a little taller. Even at maturity, this agave will remain small and retain its tight, symmetrical form. Mine is in the raised bed where I can more easily enjoy it.
This ‘Whale’s Tongue’ agave (A. ovatifolia ) played the starring role in my old garden. Unable to leave it behind when we moved last fall, I wrestled it out of its hole and brought it with me to the new-baby garden, where it is settling in nicely in one of the raised beds off the upper patio. This agave is medium-sized—about four feet across.
Texas sotol (Dasylirion texanum ) is a beauty at maturity. Mine is still small, plus I’ve moved it a few times, so it hasn’t achieved the spherical, fiber-optic look yet. I can’t wait until it does.
I bought this little Agave parryi var. truncata recently at the Great Outdoors. I plan to put it in a stock-tank planter eventually. Like the Queen Victoria, its form will be a tight rosette.
This is a small Agave desmettiana ‘Variegata’, which I’ve admired so often in Jenny Stocker’s garden. It’s cold tender, but I’m taking my chances with it in the ground in a warm pocket in my garden. I will have to cover it when we get a freeze.
I don’t know what kind of agave this is. I planted it as a small pup in my chip-and-dip planter a few years ago, and it has really outgrown its place there.
The Mangave ‘Macho Mocha’ sent up its first bloom stalk a few months ago. The flowers are long gone, but the bloom stalk remains, a little withered and yellowed. Numerous pups (baby mangaves) are popping up underneath the mama plant’s leaves.
Squid agave (A. bracteosa ), a shade-tolerant variety. This one is growing under the crepe myrtle, which is why it’s surrounded by garish pink petals.
And here’s a squid agave pup that I moved to a new spot. Isn’t it cute?
Yucca rostrata ‘Sapphire Skies’ is one to test my patience, according to the plant tag. It’s very slow-growing but will eventually form a 4-foot trunk. Its shimmery silvery leaves look wonderful with other silver plants, and I’ve added orange flowers for contrast.
I brought this large softleaf yucca (Y. recurvifolia ) over from the old garden.
A passalong agave pup from Philip at East-Side-Patch. I can’t remember if he ever ID’d this one.
And here’s another agave transplanted from my old garden—A. americana ‘Variegata’. The mother plant was passed along to me by MSS at Zanthan Gardens. This one grows quickly to a very large size. I love the writhing, striped arms.
All woody lilies are vulnerable to attack by the agave snout-nosed weevil, which has recently become a nuisance in central Texas. I lost a ‘Macho Mocha’ mangave to the weevil in my old garden and have been on the lookout for it in the new garden. I’ve heard from several readers in Arizona lately that the weevil is killing agaves there too.
Aside from weevil depredations the woody lilies are quite hardy and ask only for a sunny, well-drained site, though many will also tolerate some shade. I use them as evergreen (or ever-silver) focal points and to inject excitement and contrast amid fine-leaved, drought-tolerant plants.
All material © 2006-2009 by Pam Penick for Digging. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.
All beautiful Pam! Thank you so much for sharing your collection. I love them all but the Whales Tongue is (of course) the super star. The bits and pieces I could see of the rest of your garden look like they are hanging in there quiet well with the heat, hope you are too. Thanks for the mention at the top!
Hanging in there is about right, Loree. This kind of heat makes one want to hunker down inside and not reappear until October. —Pam
I love all your agaves but I really do love the Mariachi Band(-: How cute!
My one and only agave “spot” is doing great in his new location too! I love to see him when I go out to feed the chickens. He is a bright spot on the path(-:
Thanks, Cindee. I’m still awaiting the perfect placement for the mariachi band, but right now they’re playing for swimmers in the pool. —Pam
Love the way the Whale’s Tongue Agave picks up the blue from the pool behind it. 107 degrees! Yikes!
That was serendipitous, Susan. I like the way it reigns like a king in the raised bed, as viewed from inside the pool. —Pam
Wait-I was also thinking this week about doing a post on my agaves! And just today I was browsing yucca do to see what to get on my next trip to the US. I love all yours-esp the star of the show-whale’s tongue.
You’re up next, Nicole! Let’s see ’em. —Pam
I think the Agaves are so cool looking. I especially like the Whale’s Tongue, truly a grand sized plant.
Yes, it’s one of my favorites too, Janet. —Pam
You have a great attitude Pam…I know from personal experience(!) it isn’t always easy, but it sure makes more sense to accept garden climate/condition realities then fight them. I do love your agaves; the grays, the silvers, the skinny or thick waving arms…they are all beautiful. They look perfect in cobalt blue and galvanized steel! Our feel like temperature for tomorrow is forecast for 105! Yikes, a taste of Texas. Gail
Sheesh, with those temps you’ll be planting agaves next, Gail. —Pam
Reading blogs is so educational; I’d never heard the term woody lilies for the group. I was familiar with agaves, yuccas, and hesperaloes, but not sotols (thanks for showing one; it reminds me of my hesperaloe yuccifolium) or manfredas (is that a family name for mangave or something else altogether). Also, didn’t realize the new rosettes were called pups–so sweet, just like baby bats! 🙂
Sotols are one of my favorite xeric plants, Monica. I plan to plant the blue Wheeler’s sotol when I expand to the sunnier front yard eventually. The mangave is a naturally occurring hybrid of the agave and the manfreda families—hence “mangave,” a name given the plant by introducer Yucca Do. —Pam
You have a lot of agaves, I assume this is more than you had at your other garden? I don’t remember that many, just the Whale’s Tongue, but then, that’s a hard one to forget. It’s huge!
I had most of these in the old garden, Carol, and of course not all of them are agaves, so I may not have grouped them all together in one post before. —Pam
With all your agaves, I’m waiting for you to show us how to make tequila. What a wonderful collection! Have you ever had a Manfreda? They are native (but pretty rare) here. Every once in a great moon, we’ll come across some out in the wild.
Hi, Mary Beth. Yes, I had a little Manfreda maculosa for years in the old garden. I left it behind in a stock-tank planting, but I may go back and rescue it yet. It bloomed reliably every year. —Pam
Hang in there!
I never knew the term “woody lilies” until now. Very informative. Love all the agaves!
Cameron
Thanks, Cameron. Some of the hardy ones would look great in your cottage-style garden. Do you grow any? —Pam
Your collection is wonderful, Pam, holding their heads up to that human wilting heat. This must be when you are so happy to have that pool? I was waiting to see the hesperaloe flower. The Financier bought a large one for my birthday last year in bloom and it bloomed all the way until frost. It has yet to bloom this year. Should I have done something, like divide, feed? It has lots of leaf stalks but nothing that looks like a flower. Our temps are in the nineties every day and it is in full sun, no extra watering. Do you know why it hasn’t flowered perhaps? 🙂
Frances
I haven’t grown hesperaloe myself, Frances, but they are commonplace in Austin and require no special care : no dividing, no feeding, no extra watering. Maybe it just hasn’t been hot for long enough yet? Or maybe it has to establish a good root system to duplicate the effect from last year? Good luck with it! —Pam
Ooh, your post makes me want lots more “woody lilies” in my garden. Why does your “Whale’s Tongue” look so much grander than mine? The leaves on yours are wider and flatter (more tongue-like?) than the one I got at BSN. Anyway, I love the combinations with the silvery-leaved plants plus the pink/purple and yellow/orange flowers. I might need some winecups or primroses or violet silverleaf around my little Shamu, and some yucca and Texas sotol to keep it company. (Do I have room?)
Hi, Caroline. I bought my ‘Whale’s Tongue’ at BSN back in 2005, a little guy in a 5-gallon pot. Click here for my first post about A. ovatifolia and to see what it looked like at that size. Looking back, it’s hard to remember it was ever that small (kind of like with kids, right?), but it did grow pretty fast since it got extra water in a garden setting. —Pam
Yes, this post gives me a bad case of Agave Envy. I have never heard these plants called woody lilies. Wonderful plants no matter what you call them. You have a great collection here.
Thanks, Lisa. I knew you would appreciate them. 🙂 —Pam
Those blue glass bottles must get scary hot in the Texas summer.
I don’t know, Chuck. I’m not drinking out of them now. —Pam
Record heat here too. I love your heat beaters. It’s funny, I’ve also been writing about plant which beat the heat on Examiner. It was the only thing I could think of to write about when it’s this hot. 103F again today, and we’ve been over 100F for over a week. It’s June for goodness sakes. I’m sorry about your drought my friend. Hang in there. Fall will be here someday.~~Dee
I’m sorry to hear you’ve been sizzling too, Dee. It’s going to be a long, hot summer, isn’t it? —Pam
I was just saying today that I may have to bring in more rocks and start planting cacti and succulents when everything dries up and blows away from this horrendous heat. Evidently brown is the new green in Texas.
This heat is scary indeed. We’ll have to make silver the new green by planting more drought-tolerant plants like agaves, won’t we? —Pam
Okay, maybe I shouldn’t be complaining about the heat (just posted about it before seeing your post). But after a couple of weeks of it, maybe I’m allowed. Anyway, I LOVE all your woody lilies but was startled to hear about that weevil. I’ve never heard of it before. Eek. I do hope you can keep it at bay.
I’d always thought of agaves and like plants as almost indestructible until I learned of that weevil. I guess even Samson and Achilles had a vulnerability. —Pam
I love the way you keep educating us. Woody lilies….never heard them called that. But, they are great sculpture for the garden. I’ve already planted a few. Deer nipped one, but now have left it alone.
How about a post about your view from the pool??? Sounds like it’s a good one.
Ha! Well, maybe if I get a waterproof camera, Linda… —Pam
Part of the reason I come back to your site so often is the you do these overviews. Thanks for showing so many of the plants that love this hard time. I especially loved the Agave parryi var. truncata and the Yucca recurvifolia, although I suspect that the deer would go after that one here.
I think both of those would do well for you, Kathleen, even with deer. They’ll eat the blooms off the yucca, but they’re supposed to leave the plant alone. Of course, in times of stress, they’ll eat nearly anything. —Pam
I love the Whale’s Tongue Agave…what a statement. It’s heating up out here in So Cal, but not as much as you…..wish I had room for some agave.
There are some small ones, Susie. I bet you have room for a few of those. —Pam
Your heat tolerant plants in the last few posts all look lovely. But as much as I envy you for what you can grow, I don’t envy you that heat. I’m almost embarrassed to say that I’ve been dying because it got up to 94.6 degrees here this past week. Guess I have nothing to complain about!
I don’t envy me the heat either, Linda. It’s a fact of life here every summer, if not usually this bad, but that doesn’t stop me complaining about it. 😉 —Pam
What a great collection of Agaves and various other succulents. Queen Victoria is one of my favorite Agave species, but I prefer the ‘Compacta’ form. It has shorter and wider leaves. I bought the only one I’ve ever run into, but left it at my former home. I stopped by there a few weeks ago to check it out (through the view fence) and couldn’t believe how much it has grown in the four years since left it. It was good-sized then, and I thought it wouldn’t get much larger. It was still perfect!
Aiyana
I don’t know the ‘Compacta’ Queen Victoria, but it sounds interesting. What a shame you had to leave it at your old house, though, especially as it isn’t readily available and they take so long to grow. —Pam
i just love this post..thank you so much for sharing and for giving me lots of ideas for our project of a backyard! 😉
I’m glad you found some good ideas here, Cat. And the nice thing about these plants is you can plant them in the summer! —Pam
You know I’m drooling over this entire post, Pam… darn you for activating my “woody lily envy!” 😉
Turnabout is fair play, Kim. I was drooling over your smashing combos earlier this morning. —Pam
My “woody lilies” ARE complaining about the heat–or maybe it’s just the sun. Agaves, yucca, and even the cacti that are in full sun are sunburned. Even those plants that get plenty of water (like the canna in the pond) are sun damaged. I’ve put umbrellas over some of my tropicals. None of your photos show your plants in the sunlight. How much do they get?
In contrast, the invasives such as the chinaberries which I’ve cut to the ground have sprung up and are a deep green. The nandina is still green although I saw it go brown in similar conditions in 2006. These invasives are getting along much better than most of the natives…which doesn’t surprise me because this is not our native weather. Fine-leafed plants like asparagus fern and cypress vine seem to be weathering better than most. The oleanders don’t seem to mind and are in full bloom. The Texas mountain laurel also seems untouched; its leaves are still dark green and glossy.
Nothing in my back yard gets full sun, MSS, except the live oaks overhead. Some of these plants get morning sun, others (the ‘Whale’s Tongue’, the softleaf yucca, the Queen Victoria) a few hours of afternoon sun. I think I mentioned which ones get mostly shade, like the squid agave and the ‘Macho Mocha’ mangave. I know that some of the higher-elevation agaves (again, like the ‘Whale’s Tongue’) can get sunburned during periods like this. I’ve also read that you want to occasionally water even your most drought-tolerant plants during periods of drought. After all, “drought-tolerant” doesn’t mean drought-proof. —Pam
Good to see that the Mangave ‘Macho Mocha’ will pup after blooming. This one is definitely going on my ‘to try’ list!
It’s a beauty, Jenn. —Pam
Hi Pam. Have you ever photographed/blogged the Agave bracteosa bloom? If so, could you please send me a note telling me where it is? I sowed some seed and got outstanding germination, now I’m trying to plan where they’ll go.
It’s never bloomed for me, Chuck. How long did it take yours to bloom? Mine has, however, produced a few pups. —Pam
No, mine hasn’t bloomed either. I just grew some from seed I got in a seed exchange. I’m wondering where to put the plants, and the decision will depend on the size of the bloom. I find it strange that I can’t find any information about the bloom… Maybe blooms are rare for this plant and it prefers to propagate by pupping. (It obviously does bloom though, since I have seed.)
Dave’s Garden has some images of Agave bracteosa in bloom, Chuck. They look about 2 or 3 feet tall. —Pam
(would you like some seed? I think I still have quite a bit more, and it germinated quite readily.)
Sure, I’d love some! I’ll email you. —Pam