Drought Tolerant Plant

Grevillea Rosmarinifolia

Yesterday a reader left a comment about Grevillea Rosmarinifolia on my article, Grevillea, How to grow.

“I want to plant a fence line with the Grevillea Rosmarinifolia as I believe they are hardy and also have spiky leaves which will provide a barrier from unwanted people climbing the fence. I will require about 100 plants and would like to know the best place to get them We are in the central west of NSW Thanks”, Leighton.

When I read it I thought straight away, what a fantastic comment. Hedges aren’t necessarily the easiest things to grow, especially if it is to consist of 100 plants. I think I could actually write several articles about this comment but first it’s important to address the question.

So my first thoughts are that there probably won’t be many retail nurseries that will actually have 100 plants that are the same, let alone 100 Grevillea Rosmarinifolias. The best thing to do here is to contact some wholesale nurseries and see what they have in stock. Some wholesale nurseries actually retail as well or if they don’t once you’ve found what you want get your local retail nursery to contact them and do the deal.

The next point I want to make is, Leighton has also made a pretty good selection here with Grevillea Rosmarinifolia. This Grevillea is very hardy. It is drought tolerant, frost tolerant and also adapts to different soil types. Picking hardy plants is always important when growing a hedge as there’s nothing worse than a hedge that has dead plants in it. Your initial selection will go a long way in avoiding this.

Another great thing about Grevillea Rosmarinifolia is that it can grow into a hedge that forms a formidable barrier. The secret is to not plant the plants too far apart and to also prune the side branches to increase branching to form the hedge that you are after. I’ve seen examples of Grevillea Rosmarinifolia growing in gardens as single specimens that have been left unpruned and as a result they send out long branches that make the plant look sparse. In my opinion this look is unattractive, so if you want a nice thick barrier then make sure you don’t plant too far apart and prune early.

One of the other traits about Grevillea Rosmarinifolia is that it is a very variable plant. In nature it grows naturally over a varied group of areas so in cultivation you also get variation as well. The variation not only consists of leaf and flower variation but also the size and growth rate of the plant. So having said that, you really need to be selective so you can ensure the Grevillea Rosmarinifolia that you select does fit your requirements.

Another great trait of Grevillea Rosmarinifolia, just as with most Grevilleas, is that it does hybridise and as a result there are cultivars in the nurseries that would also be worth considering. Grevillea Pink Pearl is one and Grevillea Canberra Gem may also be worth looking at.

At the end of the day you may not be able to find your first choice but there will be something that will be available. If you look hard enough and talk to qualified nursery people that specialise in Australian Native Plants then I’m sure they will give you plenty of options. Quite often your second or third choice could turn out to be better than your first.

Grevillea Rosmarinifolia is a great choice as a hedge. I suppose it will just come down to what’s available.

Best of luck.

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Posted in Garden Plants, Grevillea | Tagged drought tolerant plant, garden plant, Grevillea, Grevillea Rosmarinifolia, Hedges | 2 Comments

Agave

It wasn’t until I started my new garden that I looked at growing Agaves. After I finished landscaping my front garden I decided I only wanted to fill it with plants that could survive only on rainfall and without any supplemental watering at all (once established). This was a tall order to place on most plants and those selected certainly would have to drought tolerant plants.

Agaves were becoming more and more popular in Australian gardens in recent times with Agave attenuata being a popular choice. The reason of course was simple, drought tolerant plants were becoming more of a necessity due to the drought so the decision to add a few Agaves to my front garden was an easy one indeed.

When it came to selecting them it wasn’t difficult at all as there were plenty to choose from and here are the ones that I selected (so far).

Agave attenuata has softer leaves than most Agaves and doesn’t have the sharp spines at the ends of the leaves. This Agave is very easy to propagate from. The two smaller agaves in the left of the photo were pups from a larger Agave attenuata that I cut away at the base to propagate from.

I’ve found Agave attenuata to be fairly easy to grow. The Agaves in the photo don’t get any supplemental watering and seem to have a faster growth rate than the other Agaves in my garden. I have found though that during extremely hot conditions in summer they can look a little stressed but I still think that they are very drought tolerant plants.

Agave attenuata

Agave desmettiana aka El Miradore’s Gold, seen growing here below only gets sunshine in the summer. Hence you can see it growing a little taller than it normally would. This Agave is also easy to propagate from as it does set lots of pups. The pups have been removed from this side for propagation but there are quite a few growing on the other side.

Agave desmettiana also has long fleshy leaves but unlike Agave attenuata these leaves do have sharp spines.

Agave desmettiana

Agave potatorum is one of my favourite Agaves. I really like the colour of the leaves and the fact that it is also very easy to propagate from. I have three other Agave potaorums growing close by that were propagated from this plant.

Agave potatorum

Agave stricta nana has been fairly slow growing in my garden but it is a dwarf variety and only grows to about 30 cm. I have two Agave stricta nanas growing in my garden. The other one is a lot smaller than this one as I only just discovered it again recently when I cut back a large Agave attenuata that was obscuring it.

Agave stricta nana

Agave victoria-reginae is probably the slowest growing Agave I have in my garden. At this stage it hasn’t produced any pups. There is also a great photo of this Agave below, taken growing in the Geelong Botanic Gardens.

Agave victoria-reginae

So far I’ve found these Agaves to be very easy to grow. They are all growing in raised beds and only get watered when it rains. Compared to other plants though I haven’t found them to be fast growers, but Agave attenuata does have a reasonable growth rate. So despite not fertilizing my other drought tolerant plants in the garden I have decided to give these some slow release fertilizer just to give they a helping hand.

Another Agave that I discovered recently growing in the Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne in the Californian Garden is Agave Parryi. This is one I think looks really distinct with it’s grey, blue leaves and will be keeping an eye out for it in the nurseries. I think it would make a great addition to a smaller garden like mine.

Agave parryi

Here’s another Agave I found also in the Californian Garden that I’m still researching to find a name for it. I think it may be a variety of Agave americana?

Agave species

There are also Agaves growing in the Geelong Botanic Gardens.

Agave atrovirens

Agave celsii

Agave filifera

Agave macroacantha

Agave stricta

Agave stricta Hedgehog

Agave victoria reginae

So there you have some photos of Agaves growing around Melbourne and Geelong. But just in case you might want to look at more here’s some photos of Agaves I found growing at Gardenworld located in Melbourne’s South East. This garden centre has a wonderful garden full of succulents and cactii as well as selling lots of unusual plants from around the world. It really is worth a visit.

Agave stricta

Agave sp

Agave macroacantha?

Agaves make a great landscaping plant.

Agave attenuata. Very popular in Australian gardens.

Agave filfera

Agave stricta with ends of the leaves cut because of it's proximity to the path.

Agave americana

Agave

So that’s it this time. As you can see Agaves are indeed becoming more popular here in Australia. With the emphasis these days being on drought tolerant plants Agaves can only prove to become even more popular in gardens. At the end of the day though even if you put aside their drought tolerance the Agave really is quite an attractive, archetectural plant that really does suit contemporary gardens indeed.

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Posted in Agave, Garden Plants | Tagged Agave, agaves, drought tolerant plant | 7 Comments

Agave potatorum

Agave potatorum is the first Agave I ever bought, as I remember I was attracted to the bluey coloured leaves. The great thing about this Agave is that it is really easy to propagate from. It grows lots of pups and has been propagated from now about 3 times.

Agave potatorums

In the photo above the original Agave I bought was the larger one at the back. The other 3 were propagated from pups from this plant. Now they are growing pups and today I’m going to remove the pups from them all.

Agave potatorum pups

Now, removing the pups on this Agave is the fun bit as it does have very sharp needles at the ends of the leaves. The way I go about it though is to get some really long scissors, remove some of the stones below the pups and then just position the scissors in as far underneath as possible and cut them away. Sometimes you get some with roots and sometimes without roots but either way it doesn’t matter.

Some have roots and other don't.

Once you have detached the pups I then just treat them with some plant starter and then pot the ones with roots into 5cm tubes and the ones without go into a larger pot until they grow some roots. Pretty easy really.

Agave potatorum pups without roots.

Agave potatorum pups with roots.

Once these pups are ready for the ground I might even plant a few more around the three in the garden and the others I’ll probably just give away.

Agave potatorum is probably one of my favourite Agaves. It’s not as fast growing as Agave attenuata but then again it doesn’t grow as large so it’s probably not meant to be.

So there you have it. If you’ve got the patience just buy one Agave potatorum and then just let it multiply.

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