spiky succulent plants Century Plant
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spiky succulent plants

spiky succulent plants Century Plant

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Description

spiky succulent plants Century PlantIntroducing the Century Plant, also known as Agave Americana, which is a stunning succulent that belongs to the family Asparagaceae. Native to Mexico and the Southwestern United States, the Agave americana has several other common names, including American aloe, maguey, flowering aloe, spiked aloe, blue agave, and Mexican soap plant. The image shows large, fleshy leaves forming a rosette shape, as well as a stunning blue green color. Century plant

Introducing the Century Plant, also known as Agave Americana, which is a stunning succulent that belongs to the family Asparagaceae. Native to Mexico and the Southwestern United States, the Agave americana has several other common names, including American aloe, maguey, flowering aloe, spiked aloe, blue agave, and Mexican soap plant.

The image shows large, fleshy leaves forming a rosette shape, as well as a stunning blue-green color.

Century plant agaves have large, thick, and fleshy leaves that form a rosette shape.

The leaves of these American agave plants are a beautiful blue-green color and have sharp, spiky edges, which can be quite formidable.

The Agave americana itself can grow to be quite large, with mature specimens reaching up to 6 feet tall and 8–12 feet wide.

Century plants, with their tall, spiky leaves, are a stunning addition to any rock garden or landscaping, creating a striking focal point.

When it comes to Century Plant blooming, it is truly a sight to behold. The Agave americana is a monocarpic plant, meaning it flowers only once in its lifetime, typically after 10 to 30 years. The century plant flower stalk can shoot up to an impressive height of 20–40 feet.

Interestingly, the Agave  Americana is the only plant out of the family that is known to produce more than 20 gallons of nectar every week. This nectar is commonly used to make agave syrup, a natural sweetener that is a popular alternative to sugar.

The flowers themselves are yellow-green in color and are arranged in a dense cluster at the top of the stalk. This magnificent display of Agave americana blooming attracts pollinators like bees and hummingbirds. 

When and How to Water Your Century Plant 

The Century Plant is highly drought-tolerant, making it an ideal choice for arid gardens and xeriscaping. Its thick, fleshy leaves store water efficiently, allowing the plant to thrive with very little supplemental irrigation once established. Overwatering can quickly lead to root rot, so this agave performs best in well-draining soil and dry conditions. Your Agave americana prefers watering once every 3 to 4 weeks, and once every 6 to 8 weeks in the dormant season.

From spring through summer, during its growing season, the Century Plant benefits from deep soaking every 3 to 4 weeks in hot, dry climates. It is generally enough, as the plant prefers the soil to dry completely between waterings. This minimal but consistent watering supports healthy leaf growth while preventing stress from prolonged dryness during active growth.

From fall through winter, during its dormant season, watering should be reduced only once every 6 to 8 weeks. The plant requires little to no irrigation, especially if it receives natural rainfall. Allowing the soil to remain dry protects the agave from fungal problems and keeps it healthy during rest.

Light Requirements - Where to Place Your Century Plant

When growing the Century Plant indoors, it's crucial to provide it with bright, indirect light. Place your Agave Americana near a south-facing window or any spot that receives ample sunlight throughout the day. If direct sunlight is too intense, you can use sheer curtains or blinds to filter the light. The Agave americana should receive at least 6–8 hours of bright light daily to thrive indoors. 

Agave americana is well-suited for outdoor cultivation, especially in warm and arid regions. It thrives in full sun exposure, so choose a location in your garden that receives direct sunlight for most of the day. This plant can tolerate high temperatures and intense sunlight, making it an excellent choice for xeriscaping or desert landscapes. Just ensure that the soil has good drainage to prevent waterlogging. 

Optimal Soil & Fertilizer Needs 

The Agave americana century plant prefers sandy, well-drained soil and should be fertilized once a year in spring. Planet Desert specializes in succulents and has specialized succulent potting soilGo to Soil cactus mix blend 1 gal 4 qt cacti succulent dirt compost growing media that includes an organic substrate with mycorrhizae to help with the growth of a healthy root system to help your Agave century plants thrive. 

The Agave americana is a low-maintenance plant that doesn't require frequent fertilization. In fact, it can thrive in nutrient-poor soils. During the growing season in the spring, you can apply a balanced (5-10-5), slow-release NPK fertilizer once a year. While the Century Plant doesn't require rich soil, you can enhance its growth by incorporating some organic matter into the soil. 

OTHER RELATED CENTURY PLANTS
Additionally, the Agave Americana variegataGo to Century plant variegated agave americana marginata or variegated century plant, and the White Stripe Century PlantGo to White stripe century plant agave (Agave Americana 'Mediopicta Alba') are popular other types of century plants with unique green and yellow/white leaves, making them attractive to gardeners and enthusiasts.

Hardiness Zone & More 

When growing outdoors, this plant is suitable in USDA zones 8–11. It thrives in full sun and can tolerate a wide range of temperatures, from hot and dry summers to cooler winter temperatures.

 In USDA Zone 8, it's important to protect your century plant from extreme cold temperatures by providing some winter protection, such as covering it with a frost cloth during freezing weather. 

When it comes to humidity, the Century Plant is well-suited to arid and semi-arid climates. It can tolerate low humidity levels and is relatively drought-tolerant once established. However, it's important to note that excessive humidity can lead to fungal diseases, so it's best to provide good air circulation and avoid overwatering new plants.

How to Grow the Best Century Plant Indoors 

When it comes to indoor growing, the Century Plant Agave Americana prefers a warm environment with temperatures between 65°F and 85°F. This century plant is quite adaptable and can tolerate slightly cooler temperatures during the winter months, but it's best to keep it away from drafts and cold windows.

As for humidity, the Century Plant can handle average indoor humidity levels, but it prefers drier conditions, similar to the arid regions in which it naturally grows. So, it's important not to overwater the plant and to ensure proper drainage to prevent root rot. 

Wildlife - Century Plants Attract the Following Friendly Pollinators

Century plants are a favorite among pollinators such as bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds. These friendly creatures are drawn to the sweet nectar produced by the plant's flowers, making them important pollinators for the reproduction of century plants. Additionally, their vibrant colors and unique shapes make them a visually appealing addition to any garden or landscape.

Butterflies
Bees
Hummingbirds
Lady Bugs
Multi Pollinators
Other Birds

According to ASPCA, the century plant is mildly toxic to cats, dogs, and horses. Ingesting any part of the plant can cause vomiting, diarrhea, lethargy, and even tremors or seizures in pets. However, it is safe to handle and plant in gardens as long as precautions are taken to prevent pets from ingesting it.

How to Propagate Your Century Plant

Agave americana can be propagated by using the offsets, or "pups," that grow around the base of the mature plant. These can be carefully separated and replanted to establish new agave-century plants. These American-century plants can be propagated through seeds, although this method requires more time and patience. 

Key Takeaways

  1. Century Plant’s name is misleading – despite the name, it doesn’t live 100 years; it typically matures and flowers after 10 to 30 years.
  2. It dies after blooming – the plant produces a massive flower stalk up to 30 feet tall, then the mother plant dies, but it leaves behind many offsets (pups).
  3. It was historically used as a resource plant – Native peoples used its fibers for ropes and textiles, its sap for fermented drinks, and even its spines as natural needles.
  4. It creates striking landscapes – with its dramatic rosette of blue-green leaves tipped with sharp spines, it can serve as a centerpiece in xeriscaping and low-water gardens.

The Bottom Line 

Overall, the Century Plant (Agave Americana) is a remarkable succulent that captivates with its striking features. With its large, fleshy leaves forming a rosette shape and its beautiful blue-green color, it's a true showstopper. The century plant can grow to impressive sizes and is often referred to by various common names, including American aloe and maguey. The Agave americana plant is known for its unique flowering habit, blooming only once in its lifetime with a towering flower stalk that attracts pollinators. It can be propagated through offsets or seeds, but caution should be exercised due to its toxic nature. Overall, Agave americana is a stunning plant that adds unique beauty and intrigue to any garden or landscape.  

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Jon Hunt
Alexandria, US
★★★★★ 5
One Nation Under God.....Divisible
Format: Hardcover
"How Corporate America invented Christian America" is a perfect subtitle to Kevin Kruse's excellent book, "One Nation Under God", for as the author discusses, this is what happened to our culture over the course of several decades. It's an eye-opener and he presents an offering full of depth and insight. As Kruse reminds us in the epilogue, the source of America's becoming a "Christian" nation stems from the vitriol of those clergymen who opposed the New Deal. James Fifield and Abraham Vereide, two early proponents of this new America they sought, gave way to Billy Graham and Pat Robertson, who cemented the fact that God and the Republican party were joined at the hip. A large part of the book deals with how U.S. presidents dealt with the issue. Dwight Eisenhower presided over the change in the Pledge of Allegiance to include, "One Nation under God" and that American currency now bore the phrase "In God We Trust". His chapters lay the necessary groundwork nicely for the two most revealing chapters, "Our So-Called Religious Leaders", which largely deal with efforts to pass a constitutional amendment requiring school prayer, and "Which Side Are You On?", an intense look at how shamelessly Richard Nixon and his administration publicy made God "their own". While it is hard to imagine today the thousands of billboards and leaflets displayed in the manner that they were in the 1960s, the undercurrent of nastiness that exists to "promote" God remains. You can hear it in the Tea Party. What Kevin Kruse reminds us is that religion was, and still is, as divisive a force as any we have had in the past and have in America today.
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Reviewed in the United States on April 27, 2015
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Alice Friedemann
Lake Worth, US
★★★★★ 5
How Corporate America created free-enterprise Jesus to undo the New Deal
This book tells the history of how corporate America have tried to undo New Deal reforms since the 1940s by creating a new free-enterprise religion, and to erode the separation of church and state. Corporate America’s creation of a free-enterprise selfish Jesus began in 1935 with the founding of an organization called Spiritual Mobilization. Some of the corporations who donated money to this and similar organizations include: American Cyanamid and chemical corporation, Associated Refineries, AT&T, Bechtel Corporation, Caterpillar Tractor Company, Chevrolet, Chicago & Southern Airline, Chrysler corporation, Colgate-Palmolive Company, Deering-Milliken, Detroit Edison, Disney, DuPont, Eastern Airlines, General Electric, General Foods, General Motors, Goodwill, Goodyear Tire & Rubber, IBM, J. C. Penney, J. Walter Thompson, Mark A. Hanna, Marriott, Marshall Field, Monsanto Chemical Company, National Association of Manufacturers, Pacific Mutual Life Insurance, Paramount Pictures, PepsiCo, Precision Valve Corp, Quaker Oats, Republic Steel Corp, Richfield Oil Co., San Diego Gas & Electric, Schick Safety Razor, Standard Oil Company, Sun Oil company, Sun shipbuilding company, Union Carbide and Carbon Corporation, United Airlines, US Rubber company, US steel corporation, Utah Power & Light, Warner Bros. Pictures, Weyerhauser. In the 1930s, corporations were well known to have brought on the Great Depression with their tremendous greed and dishonesty. The New Deal reformed the financial system, distributed wealth more evenly, provided a social safety net, protected the people by regulating businesses to protect them from unsafe and unhealthy food, drugs, and other products, toxic pollution, aided farmers in slowing soil erosion to prevent more dust bowls (and feed Americans for hundreds of years-- good topsoil is America’s most important treasure), and other public services that benefited everyone. The New Deal embodied the ideals of the Social Gospel, a movement dedicated to the public good, economic equality, eradication of poverty, slums, child labor, an unclean environment, inadequate labor unions, poor schools, and war (Wiki Social Gospel). Corporate America fought against these reforms and has been trying to undo the New Deal ever since then. One of their most successful tactics was getting religious leaders to spout a new version of Jesus – a free-enterprise, Ayn Rand, selfish Jesus and eradicate the Social Gospel Jesus of the New Deal. At first ministers and people saw through since this propaganda was obviously craven corporate self-interest. So the propaganda was crafted more subtly, and sold to conservative religious leaders. Congregations then listened to sermons about the free-enterprise Jesus with open hearts and minds, which they would have laughed at if the speaker were a CEO. The new religion taught them to hate unions, social welfare, to fear and hate government, to be against abortion and birth control (mainly because the more people there are, the less industries have to pay them). It was broadcast from conservative religious radio and TV stations, and in the secular world. This is why you don’t have a chance of talking Uncle Bob out of voting for demagogues at the Thanksgiving table – you’re attacking his religion and core beliefs he’s heard since his first sermon, and his brain shuts down in anger. He’s been taught since he was a baby that he should hate and fear government, not corporations. People like to say that capitalism is imperfect, but the best system that exists. Well, it’s great at raping, pillaging, and poisoning land, water, and air than any other system. Industrial farming is depleting aquifers and eroding and compacting top soil to the point where it won’t produce much food after centuries rather than millennia. Global conventional oil production, where 90% of our oil comes from, peaked in 2005 (Aleklett et al. 2012; Kerr 2011; Murray 2012; Newby 2011; IEA 2010; Zittel et al. 2013), declining at a rate of 6% now and increasing to 9% by 2030 (Hook 2009). According to the Department of Energy, you’d want to prepare at least 20 years ahead of time for peak oil (Hirsch 2005), yet here we are 12 years after peak conventional oil, with both Democrats and Republicans assuming that endless growth on a finite planet will fix things. We don’t have endless energy, it turns out that earth is not a giant gas tank, and even if it were, exponential growth would drain it in centuries. There isn’t a single endeavor that doesn’t depend on energy, especially supply chains, mining, logging, construction, and road building, which are done with heavy-duty trucks, which can only accomplish their work with diesel engines that burn only diesel (Friedemann 2015). Since the social net is funded by an ever-expanding working population and growth, social security and Medicare are Ponzi schemes, as well as our financial system, which depends on growth to pay back debt. The corporations are about to get the death of the New Deal they’ve so wanted via the decline of our fossil-fueled civilization. There is no political party that can fix this, so it’s time to strengthen your community to become more resilient, self-sufficient, and able to supply food and other essentials locally. To fix water and sewage infrastructure. It’s time to embrace the social gospel and help community members less fortunate than you in the years ahead. Aleklett, K., et al. 2012. Peeking at peak oil. Berlin: Springer. Hook, M., et al. 2009. Giant oil field decline rates and their influence on world oil production. Energy Policy 37(6):2262–2272. Friedemann, A. 2015. When trucks stop running, Energy and the Future of Transportation. Springer. Kerr, R. 2011. Peak oil production may already be here. Science 331:1510–11. Murray, J., et al. 2012. Oil’s tipping point has passed. Nature 481:43–4. Newby, J. 2011. Oil Crunch (Fatih Birol). Catalyst. ABC TV. IEA. 2010. World energy outlook 2010, 116. International Energy Agency. Zittel, W, et al. 2013. Fossil and nuclear fuels. Energy Watch Group.
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Reviewed in the United States on January 9, 2017
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Star Quest
Louisville, US
★★★★★ 4
Very Interesting and Important Book
Format: Hardcover
It took me a long time to read this book, but I highlighted and took notes all over it. It’s absolutely fascinating and well researched and I personally think it should be required reading in seminaries across the nation. Understanding how Christianity as a religion penetrated the fabric of American politics after FDR’s presidency and the New Deal is an important part of understanding American politics in the first place. I also realized what bothered me about this in the first place. Our founding fathers specifically wrote the bill of rights and the constitution to protect freedom of religion and also to keep it out of state affairs. This unfortunately is not what happened throughout the last 60 years. It is clear that prominent Christian figures throughout the decades have infiltrated American politics, some more than others. In my younger years I was oblivious to this and in some instances promoted American Christianity in the political discourse. After many years of intense research and study I understood why that is not healthy for our republican constitutional form of government. Ever Since president Regan said the famous words “God Bless America” at the end of a speech, the phrase has been shoved down the ears of the American populace over and over again by political leaders to this very day. The playing of the National Anthem synonymous with “God Bless America” phrases and tunes has also in my opinion and observations, contributed to religious nationalistic patriotism. And although I am by no means against loving and appreciating one’s country, I also see the coercive methods of these efforts and am concerned that is creates a blind sense of obedience to the state under a religious umbrella which tarnishes Christianity as a whole. I also acknowledge that having the state influence, dictate and decide what is right for our lives is just as unhealthy and dangerous. If looked at from a practical standpoint, understanding the founding documents of our nation’s founding and establishment is exactly what keeps the healthy political balance alive. I did have one issue with the authors writing and interpretation which significantly bothered me. The author categorized members such as Billy Graham and James Fifield among other pioneers of the movement as Christian Libertarians. I wholeheartedly disagree with that title. If one studies and understands the core of what Libertarianism is about, it is specifically against forcing or coercing any particular religion regardless of political or social means especially through the state. Libertarians acknowledge the right to believe in a religion or no religion. The fact that Reverend Graham utilized his religious position to influence politics is very much anti-libertarian and a vast majority of libertarians will very likely agree with that position. I suggest the author study libertarianism a bit more and do more research before tainting that label. Despite that hurdle, I still thought this was a very good and important book.
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Reviewed in the United States on May 11, 2019
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Jon Becker
Natrona Heights, US
★★★★★ 5
Essential History for Retaining Reason and Rationality for Guiding the Nation
Awesome book on the History of people, themes and big money, corporate used in an attempt to make one religion the National Religion while neutering the First Amendment. It is true to it's title in detailing how Corporations and Religion came together to fight the New Deal of FDR. These two self serving entities fought for control of the people but did almost nothing to avert wide spread hunger and homelessness in the depression. The fortunes of corporations and insistence of religions on controlling the minds of people to produce jobs in their own occupations outweighed the immediate needs of the jobless and homeless. The opulent lifestyles of the big religions and their organizers came first over the health and welfare of the country, just like it had in Medieval Europe, where the Aristocrats and the Christian Churches ran the Continent. These two institutions were responsible for keeping Democracy out of Europe and ultimately creating the Soviet Revolutions in Russia that attempted to spread to the rest of the World. What is clear, from many books on this subject, that "Under God" means being subservient to God, the word of which comes from God's messengers. Subservience Under God means that when the opinions of the People differ from those of God as told through the Messenger, then God wins and the People Shut Up. Those that don't face stiff penalties. Fabulous History that everyone should know if they want to perpetuate a Democracy. The Roman Empire was "One Nation Under God", because the Christian Religion was the only legal Religion and it had only One God - no others were allowed and this was enforced with the sword. Rome will return to America if we are not careful.
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Reviewed in the United States on October 22, 2015
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Michael Keller
Birmingham, US
★★★★★ 3
Stranded on third base
Format: Hardcover
Prof. Kruse wanders away from the promise of the subtitle of his book--"How corporate America Invented Christian America." He almost gets there when he describes the ideological opposition of the wealthy to F.D.R's "New Deal." and their caricature of the "social gospel" as Communist propaganda. His description of Truman's encounter with Billy Graham is wonderful. For a book published in 2015, Kruse makes only slight mention of the fact that the politics of money and religion in contemporary times becomes more pernicious every day. The main body of the book drifts into redundant detail about "who prayed with who" and the spiritual influence of prominent evangelists on presidents from Eisenhower to Bush with only faint reference to their ties with the Capitalist agenda. He portrays wealthy Christians as true religious zealots when, in fact, they and many of the politicians they supported were likely hypocrites using religion as a wedge issue to increase their power and pursue their agenda of unregulated Capitalism. It is remarkable that Kruse entirely fails to mention the Koch brothers--billionaires who bankroll countless ultra right-wing politicians with evangelical agendas, while they, themselves, are apparently Ayn-Rand-style libertarian atheists interested only in a social-Darwinian, Capitalist heaven. Prof. Kruse leaves us stranded on third base, when he could have hit a home run!
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Reviewed in the United States on May 7, 2015

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