Around 10 years. At which time they send up the huge, towering flower stalks. After that it's game over. Luckily they seem to pup often so its easy to have some back-ups ready to replace the mother.

Do you have an Agave Americana or is it one of the other species or cultivars? Thee already mentioned time frame sounds right for As, but some agaves get a foot wide their entire lives. To some, all agaves are century plants, so I had to ask just to make sure.

yes, its the a. amercana. How fast do they grow the first few years? I know at 10 years they die.

They will grow quickly to a mature size of anywhere from 2 feet to 6 feet across. They will bloom and then die, but send out dozens (hundreds?) of pups. Most take at least 8 or 9 years to mature and bloom, but I've seen others go 15 years without one.

Growing up with these plants here in Florida, we tended not to think very much of these plants, especially when they get too big and cut you up when you have to trim them. There are a lot of really cool agaves of all different sizes. So anyone who hasn't tried some of the smaller ones, they are really worth trying out.

I have a ferious agave. Had it for 10 years now is a metre in width, not quite a metre in height and she's definitely viscous. Very heavy, has not flowered as yet, but have so far had 5 babies from her. I keep moving her so she doesn't flower, but too big for a

Pot. She's a rare breed, so try to give her extra special attention. I also have the Americana and century, plus many more, none grow to the size of a ferious

Blue (Tequilla) Agaves seem to do well here too. I had a tiny one 12 yrs ago. It has become huge and makes tons of babies.

Agaves generally do well here, better than Aloes. The Aloes do ok as long as you can keep them under the eaves or something where they still get some sun but dont get too much water during our rainy season.

Opuntia seem to do well. I got tons of prickly pear fruit this year. I froze a bunch to make jelly later when I have more time and am gonna water bath and can some other stuff.

Of course, Dragonfruit, epiphyllums and other more tropical cacti also do well here.