Palermo plants: Flowering agaves on their last days

Today Positively Palermo begins our review of the approved plants in our community. We begin on a sad note as the beautiful agaves that are blooming at Palermo Palm Springs will soon die. They are "agave desmettiana" and sometimes are called dwarf century plants or smooth century plants. Here's the information from a plant expert: “Exceptionally graceful form and minimal leaf tip spines make this agave a choice specimen. Known only in gardens, it may have originated in cultivation in eastern Mexico. Each symmetrical rosette bears narrow arching leaves with up-curved margins. Leaf color varies from yellow green to blue green with exposure and climate, growing darker in full sun. At an early age the mother rosette develops densely packed offsets. Some gardeners routinely remove the offsets to preserve its striking architectural character. Rosettes bloom at about 10 years of age, then die, leaving the offsets. The very tall, branched flower stalk produces clusters of pale yellow blooms as well as prodigious numbers of bulbils. These are the primary propagation material for the species, maturing into large rosettes within a few years. Home gardeners can populate an entire garden by gathering and planting bulbils. Seed is not produced. This frost-tender plant is among the most desert-hardy of the soft-leaf agaves. It is routinely grown as a specimen to allow it to achieve its fluted vase shape without crowding from other plants. Though highly drought resistant, it grows faster with regular watering. The bold symmetrical form is exceptional under night lighting, and works beautifully in geometric planting schemes.” Miss Penny Lane says: The idea of losing these plants brings tears to her eyes, but she's eager to see what they will be replaced with by the HOA.