Lions Tail Agave

Lions Tail Agave (Agave salmiana var. ferox) is one of the most sculptural plants you can put in a dry Australian garden. It builds a broad rosette to about 1.5m tall and 2.5m across, with thick blue green leaves that curve upward and finish in a hard dark spine. Little else gives you that scale of architecture on this little water, and once established it looks after itself.

Why you'll love it

• Architecture on a large scale. A mature rosette spanning 2.5m carries a courtyard bed on its own.
• Almost no water once established. Drought and heat tolerant, and happy in poor soil, so it suits inland and arid gardens where little else survives.
• Frost hardy, unlike most agaves. It handles cold southern winters, which widens where you can use it a long way.
• Coastal and poolside tough. Salt tolerant, unbothered by reflected heat off paving, and it drops almost no litter into a pool.

Where it works best

Feature planting. Give it a clear 3m and let it stand alone in gravel, mulch or low groundcover. Crowding it with shrubs wastes the shape, which is the reason to buy it.

Rockeries and dry gardens. It looks natural among stone and pairs well with other succulents, grasses and low native shrubs on a hot, well drained slope.

Pots and poolside. A wide, heavy pot suits it and keeps the size in check. Set it back from the pool edge, because of the spines rather than the mess.

Growing Lions Tail Agave in Australia

Position and climate. Full sun, all day. It suits subtropical, warm temperate, Mediterranean and arid or semi-arid gardens, and being frost hardy it is fine through cold southern winters. The wet tropics are the one place to avoid, since constant humidity and summer rain rot the crown.

Soil. Sharp drainage is the only thing that really matters. Poor, gravelly and sandy ground is ideal. On clay, plant on a raised mound with coarse sand and gravel through the backfill, and never mulch tight against the base.

Water and feed. Water fortnightly through the first summer to settle the roots, then leave it alone except in severe drought. It needs no feeding in open ground. In a pot, a light dose of controlled release fertiliser in spring is plenty.

Pruning and handling. Remove old lower leaves at the base with a sharp saw as they brown. Wear thick gloves, long sleeves and eye protection: the spines are hard enough to puncture and the sap irritates skin. Blunt the tips with secateurs if the plant sits near a path or a play area.

What to expect when it arrives

It comes in two sizes: 200mm pots sold in packs of six, and single 300mm pots. Both are currently listed on backorder, so they dispatch as the next crop comes through rather than immediately. The 200mm plants are young rosettes, useful for planting a dry bed or rockery in numbers, while a 300mm plant already reads as a feature.

Agaves travel well, because the leaves carry their own water. Growth is slow, so allow several years for full size. Delivered Australia wide, with delivery from $29.95, and every plant carries our 30 day healthy plant guarantee.

Plant care guides and related reading

• Compare the full agave range.
• Choosing between the main agave varieties.
• Browse plants suited to rockeries.
• See other succulents for hot, dry gardens.

Common questions

Is it safe around children and pets?

Treat it as a plant to keep away from both. The terminal spines are sharp enough to injure and the sap irritates skin. Plant it well back from paths and play areas, or trim the tip spines each season.

Does it die after flowering?

It flowers once at maturity, sending up a tall spike of yellow blooms after many years, and that rosette is spent afterwards. Offsets around the base carry the planting on.

How much space does it need?

Allow a full 3m diameter. At 2.5m across it overhangs anything planted closer, and moving a mature agave later is a difficult, painful job.