the Swan Neck Agave

Ever since we moved in to our house, there was a large Swan Neck Agave in the back yard.

Agave attenuata

new agave growing on the main agave

It comes from the Asparagaceae family and its latin/scientific name is Agave attenuata. I’m not quite sure what subspecies it might be, since there are many variations for plants, whether it is the difference in leaf shapes or even how thick or thin the leaf might be may indicate eve indicate a different subspecies or even a different species all together. This plant is known as a succulent plant because it has thick leaves and comes from arid or subtropical climates around the world and is originally from the arid coasts of Mexico.

root-like structures growing from a small agave on the main agave

This one at home has been growing for some time now and has started leaning to one side that we needed to hold it up with some string. On the stem of the main plant, there had been much smaller plants growing on the stem of the main plant, as well as root-like structures on the nodes of the main stem, underneath where the smaller plants were growing. They seem to look like green-brown looking worms growing out, but they may be adventitious roots for the new little plants and that they are ready to be taken off and replanted elsewhere, which is one way of asexual reproduction.

after a trimming, new agave's and stem

after replanting , red ribbon for luck

We needed to move it since we were fixing up the backyard and putting in some drains to prevent the backyard from flooding in winter, so we removed all the small new plants and cut the stem in half and moved it further away from the drain, and replanted it making it face the fence and hopefully it will bend away from the fence and face the sunlight like it used to.

:)

Sources: The University of Melbourne’s Burnley Plant Guide