Correct placement and trimming of an agave

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One of the best plants for your desert landscape is an agave, and it can also be one of the worst.

They're great because they use very little water, and personally I find them beautiful. I really don't like planting a bunch of cactus in my garden, so agaves are kind of a compromise. Unfortunately, it's easy to make mistakes.

The worst mistake you can make is to plant something without having any idea of its mature size. Some agaves get HUGE. The one in the pic up there is a medium size one that I got as pup from a neighbor. I've seen the ones over on his property, and they aren't HUGE. It's not a tiny plant, but it's not HUGE. And since all agaves  are pretty much the same size at the garden center, it's good to find out in advance how big it will get. Did I mention that some get HUGE?

The main reason that you want to know how big it will get is that you will have to give it room. Those ends are needle-sharp, and if they grow anywhere that people might brush past them, they will leave a horrible gouge. Those needles can cut through thick leather! So plant them well away from where people walk. The one in the pic up there is planted close to my courtyard wall, and many feet away from where anyone would be tempted to walk, unless they're idiot enough to go strolling into my garden, which has a lot of sharp plants. I remind my friends to stay out so that I don't have to clean up blood. But these plants are so deadly-looking that I don't even really have to say that. Keep out!

Another thing you'll have to keep an eye out for with agaves is trimming and removing pups. I just did the trimming on this plant, and I sat on the ground with a very sharp Japanese gardening knife, wearing my leather gauntlet gloves, and put the cut fronds on a tarp which I carried over to the trash. I try to get a nice clean cut. Agaves are fibrous, so they can leave a raggedy cut if you're not careful. To me a good-looking cut is part of the beauty of a garden.

With care and very little maintenance, agaves can beautiful your garden. If you don't know what you're doing, don't plant them.

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