Take Me To Post Comment Form By: Christina Mansfield
Date: September 1, 2008

[Pictures to the left are of the Desert Argave (looks like aloe vera), the Canna Lily (having large leaves with small rust flowers), the Dioon Palm tree, and the banana tree.]

Growing up in Hinesville in the 80's I could remember mom getting so disappointed with a few botanical failures due to the soil or climate. These botanical errors weren't her fault, it was just nature. The soil compost was either full of acid (which was natural), the pine tree's interfered with the soil or the dirt was actually SAND! Over time my family was finally able to discover a few plants that grow well in all this dirt.. (or sometimes sand).

Now lets talk plants! There are even more plants out there that may grow well, but I'm going to name a few that grow in addition to all the other plants out there. There is the Canna lily, which is a tall beautiful plant with large leaves that grows over ten feet high. There is the Desert Argave also called "American Blue", is a plant that looks just like Aloe Vera. Desert Argave needs little to no water and derives from the desert. It is confused with aloe because of its common features, however aloe is much smaller. Aloe is a small plant and does not grow like Desert Argave which grow to about 2 to 4 feet wide and 3 to 9 feet high. Desert Argave CAN NOT be used like aloe at all. Aloe can be distinguished by it's skinny leaves that stick straight up with an occasional budding center, while Argave have big and thick chunky leaves. This plant also a century plant, which means it takes about a century to finally produce a flower and then it dies. It takes the plant about 5 to 50 years for it to produce it's flower.. (Worth waiting for) :). And then there is the banana tree which grows bananas once and last but not least the Dioon palm tree. The Dioon Palm tree looks just like the Sylvester palm tree except it is just more luscious. These are just few of the plants that grow well and my mom has been very successful at growing over the years..

But now, If you plan on planting these beautiful plants don't expect them to just grow over night or look gorgeous at that. Beauty takes work! That means, even though the Desert Argave grow well in droughts doesn't mean you have to give it dust and and air.. Be nice to your plants and feed them water even if they drow in dust. The more you take time to pamper your plants the quicker and successful your garden will be. When you get the plant, buy one at a time and focus on your plant. Don't cluster your yard with lots of plants making it look like a big messy snake habitat. Be neat! Roaches and snakes love lots of bushy and cluttered yards. The snakes hide in it.. So keep your garden or yard nice with only a few here and a few there. DO NOT grow any plants near the edge of your yard are near the road because they may create blind spots for drivers. If your plant grows out of control you may want to prune them.. But never kill your plant or chop it down, just maintain it, care for it and pull maintenance. I have included pictures of some plants that have been able to grow successful at my moms.