Survival secrets from a desert icon, revealing nature’s strategies for enduring and thriving in the harshest environments.

A copperplate engraving of an agave quiote, or flowering stalk, by German botanist ... “They called it tristeza y muerte—sadness and death—because the plants begin to look sad and wilt ...

He was not the first to plant agave, but he has planted the most so far — roughly 400,000 plants on 340 acres. “We’re in a highly productive area,” Woolf told me last week. “We have ...

The sap of agave plants, which is toxic to people if it's not cooked, is harvested from the heart of the plant. It's then extracted, filtered, and heated to create the product sold in stores.

Farmers in California are trying to plant crops that don't require a lot of water. Some are turning to growing agave as a ...

That's where he planted his agave in neat rows a couple of years ago. While the plants are not mature yet, they've grown enough that their pointed, outstretched leaves can brush his hip when he ...

experts say the increasingly severe conditions are testing some iconic desert plants known for their resilience — including saguaro cacti and agave. “We saw damage to plants this summer that ...

Botanists realized again last week that “century plant” is a complete misnomer for the American aloe (Agave americana ... pokes up a huge flowering stalk, thick as a tree trunk, from 15 ...

We found some small options if you want to be subtle, like succulents and an agave plant — in general, plants that naturally have firm, waxy leaves make good faux foliage candidates, so ...

Like most succulents, agave can be replanted using clonal shoots, otherwise known as "hijuelos" in Spanish. Farmers need only ...