 |
Manfreda maculosa |
 |
| | Four-year-old plant growing in our rock garden zone |
|
|
| Common name |
deciduous agave |
| Family |
agavaceae |
| Life cycle |
perennial (Z7-9) |
| Flowers |
pale pink (summer) |
| Size |
24" |
| Light |
sun-part shade |
| Cultural notes |
well-drained soil |
From seed  |
Germinate at room temperature with exposure to light
detailed seed-starting info below
|
Rosettes, to one foot wide, of fleshy purple-spotted leaves. The rosettes stay low, the summer flower spikes rise well above. Sometimes referred to as deciduous agaves, which strikes me as odd because in our garden they remained evergreen even through the fierce freeze of 2021. In any case, manfredas do not feature the fearsome spines of true agaves. Native to southern Texas and Mexico.
Our seedlings didn't show any sign of spots, so I wasn't sure if it was the right thing – but by early March of the following year, some speckling developed. In the few following years, our main plant grew somewhat more robust, but nowhere near the size it might eventually attain. Finally, in April of its fourth year, it sent up a flower spike, and proceeded to bloom starting in mid-May. Flowers open up from the bottom of the spike upwards, each starting a creamy white and maturing to a dusky purple.
|
| | First-year seedlings, in late October |
| 
| | Speckling evident early spring of second year |
|
| | Three-year-old plant – slow-growing |
| 
| | Impressive underground base and root cluster |
|
| | Four-year-old plant sending up a flower-spike in late April |
|
|
In our garden, this plant grows in the following areas: left fence border, rock garden zone About my plant portraits
PlantLinks to other web pages about Manfreda maculosa
- Seed from NARGS '17/'18 exchange. Baggy 70F with light (95%G, 10-13d)
I welcome comments about my web pages; feel free to use the form below to
leave feedback about this particular page. For the benefit of other visitors
to these pages, I will list any relevant comments you leave, and if
appropriate, I will update my page to correct mis-information. Faced with an
ever-increasing onslaught of spam, I'm forced to discard any comments including
html markups. Please submit your comment as plain text. If you have a
comment about the website as a whole, please leave it in my
guestbook. If you
have a question that needs a personal response, please
e-mail me.
Last modified:
December 29, 2024
Contact me
|
