At play with AGAVES

Agaves are weird but alluring plant camels that are great focal plants in the garden and irresistible to the dedicated succulent collector. Editor Tanya Visser reveals why she has become such an agave junky...

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I call agaves my 'blueprint of God'. The most spectacular feat of nature is the imprint of the thorns and leaf margins first visible as the soft leaves start to uncurl from the growth point and which stay on the leaves even as they mature into adult form. I can take pictures of these imprints forever and they never stop fascinating me!

There is just no denying that certain agave species and cultivars are so striking that they completely change the immediate landscape with their presence. This is a diverse genus when it comes to shapes, textures and foliage colours, such colours as dull green, steel-grey, iridescent silvery-blue and even variegated with white, cream or yellow are all thrown in.

A common characteristic of these succulents is the symmetrical rosette of succulent and fibrous leaves, which can be long, thin and grass-like, squat and finger-like, or very large, broad and heavy. Generally, the fleshy and fibrous leaves of all species end in sharp points (sometimes extremely sharp terminal spines), while those of some species also have sharp marginal teeth, making them real bully plants that have to be handled with care.