Workhorse of the San Diego Garden - Furcraea foetida 'Mediopicta'

I am not exaggerating when I say this plant is a workhorse in San Diego gardens. It is a great non-threatening focal point, as it is spineless and soft compared with most Agaves. This is not an Agave but an Agave relative from a large tropical area extending from Guadaloupe Islands in the Caribbean down into Brazil. This plant grows easily, looks great, and is not bothered by insects and disease. The species name, "foetida", means fetid or bad-smelling, and apparently, when the leaves are crushed it is rather stinky. 

Furcraea foetida 'Mediopicta Sport'                                                                                                            S. Reeve

Few plants have this much visual interest and can grow in so many garden and climate situations. True, your garden should remain above freezing to grow it outside, but it grows in a variety of climates. It grows equally as well in hot humid Miami as it does in semi-arid San Diego. I grew them very well in pots in the sticky Atlanta summers and over-wintered them in the garage. It can grow in full sunlight and also in fairly dense shade. This makes it very useful for brightening up shady areas. 'Mediopicta' means "painted center" and this does have a white/cream striped cleanly drawn down the center of each leaf or in a haphazard pattern. Above, you see a very distinct white stripe, but in the photo below the white is diffused through the leaf. The clean striped version is a sport of the other and called, Furcraea foetida 'Mediopicta Sport.' The photo of the parent plant below planted in full sun is the Furcraea foetida 'Mediopicta' that you commonly see in the trade.

The photo above shows a two-year-old Furcraea foetida 'Mediopicta Sport' in fairly constant bright shade. Plants in the shade grow more slowly and that can be a very good thing. 

Furcraea foetida 'Mediopicta' in full sun                                                                                         S. Reeve

This plant in full sun is probably also 2-3 years old but has grown more densely.  It is presently about 3 feet wide and a little less tall. Give these plants ideal conditions of rich soil, full sun, and lots of water and you can have an eight-foot-wide behemoth in several years. The good thing is you can just hold off on some of the water and keep this plant smaller in size for several years. If your goal is to have thousands of baby plants, go ahead and plant in a large full sun area, with good soil, and plenty of water. In 5-20 years you will have an eight-foot-tall and eight-foot-wide specimen that is large enough to bloom. Generally, this plant remains trunkless, but it can develop a small trunk with age.

Furcraea foetida 'Medio Picta' blooming stalk                                                                           John Rusk

When the plant reaches a large size it will send up a branched stalk with thousands of bi-colored flowers loved by bees. Given the stalk is the plant's last chance to procreate, it can measure 25-30 feet tall. I have seen reports of 40 feet tall, but I have never seen one so large. A morphological feature of the genus Furcraea is the pendulous flowers compared to erect or horizontal flowers in Agaves. The flowers have a pleasing fragrance. After the flowers are pollinated, soon the plant is loaded with little individual plantlets or bulbils, thousands per plant in a procreation strategy called, "vivipary" or "live birth." Several plants do this including species of mangroves, and surprisingly, tomatoes. If you have ever cut a tomato and found baby plants inside you have seen vivipary. What makes this plant a problem is the often-times 100% survival rate of the babies. Here, in semi-arid San Diego lack of water prevents this plant from spreading, but in many tropical or sub-tropical areas with more water, this plant has become an unwelcome alien. 

Furcraea combined with other plants                                                                                                 S. Reeve

The biggest reason I love Furcraea is you get an instant focal point when you add them to a garden composition. Here are a couple of examples. One is a recently installed business park planter, and the other is a rendering for a fairly shady spot in an outdoor mall.

Furcraea in upper right of photo                                                                                                  S. Reeve

Relaxing garden at outdoor mall                                                                                                  S. Reeve

Furcraea foetida 'Mediopicta' combines well with so many plants that it is easy to use in garden compositions. It can even be used in quantity as a bedding plant or by itself as a focal point of a pot. It combines well with other succulents, agaves, aloes, roses, grasses, shrubs, and many other plants. The unique texture and patterning give the opportunity for all kinds of inventive combinations. Even if you have other variegated plants, as long as the variegation is a different scale you can combine them with Furcraea. This plant is a workhorse for me as it always looks clean, healthy, and blemish-free. It is also spine-free and soft so that makes it a great choice for a garden with children.