Some like it hot and dry. A fiesta of drought tolerant plants common to the desert southwest but well suited for South Carolina landscapes is displayed at Riverbanks Botanical Garden.

The garden grows several small varieties of agave along with the famous American agave or century plant. While the century plant takes years before flowering, none take anywhere near one- hundred years.

Many agave species bloom yearly. Agaves are succulents with thick, fleshy leaves and spiny edges. Sisal and hennequin agaves have long tough leaf fibers used to make ropes, matting, and coarse cloth. Native Americans used agave nectar as "sweetener." Agave sap is fermented and distilled to make tequila.

The prickly pear cactus enjoys dry sandy soil. The fleshy pads are modified stems for storing water, producing food, and making flowers. The pear- shaped red fruit is edible as are the pads. Medicinal interest surrounds use of its pectin to lower "bad" cholesterol and to reduce diabetics' need for insulin. Both fruit and pads are rich in soluble fiber which controls blood sugar levels.

Riverbanks Botanic Garden is an oasis for the gardener seeking drought tolerant plants. A small evergreen succulent perennial fond of growing on sunny rocks and stone ledges is the houseleek, or live- forever, Sempervivum. The plant, a green rosette, reproduces asexually by lateral offsets which root and grow independently, giving rise to another common name, "hen and chicks." Offsets make distinctive plant gifts. The plant is very tolerant of forgetful waterers. Chemicals in the leaves have been used on the skin to relieve burns, inflammation, insect bites, and to remove corns.

Yuccas, members of the agave family, are interesting, attractive, and long- lived new world natives. The leathery strap- like leaves are usually pointed with serrated or fibrous edges. Bell- shaped flowers may be white, créme, or greenish white and grow in clusters on a stem which shoots forth from the center of basal leaves. Native Americans used all parts of the yucca. Leaf fibers produced rope, sandals, mats and baskets. Roots and stems yielded soap. Buds and flowers were eaten raw or boiled. The Spanish bayonet, Yucca aloifolia, grows to a height of 6'- 15' and is useful as a security shrub. Like its agave kin its pointed leaves deter interlopers.

Yucca flowers attract yucca moths for a mutually beneficial pollination partnership. Yuccas are interesting garden plants if only to catch a glimpse of the pollination partnership between the yucca and the yucca moth. Yuccas and yucca moths co- evolved to mutually benefit each other. At night, yucca flowers open fully and emit a fragrance attracting the yucca moth. The white female moth gathers pollen from the flower's anthers. She forms a pollen ball which she places firmly atop a flower's stigma. After pollinating, the moth deposits eggs into the ovary of the pistil. The ovary becomes fruit containing seeds. When the moth eggs hatch, the larvae eat the seeds. Exit holes made by larvae are visible in the dry seed pods of yucca.

Undoubtedly, the most unusual plants in the garden do not look like plants at all. The flowering stone plants or living stones, lithops, originated under extreme conditions of drought and heat in South Africa and southwestern Namibia. The plant has the bare minimum required to be a plant - roots, two leaves and one flower. Each pair of kidney or egg- shaped leaves is a water tank. To minimize water loss the leaves are truncated and round like a pebble. The "stones" mimic the color of surrounding rocks and soil and escape notice by foraging animals. Most plants produce a yellow or white daisy- like flower between the two leaves. These miniature amulets can be grown from seed and have captured the imagination of plant collectors worldwide. Prickly pear cactus can be contained ...
Sources for Lithops:
www.tmseeds.com
www.seedrack.com
www.lithops.net
Agaves and Yuccas:
www.yuccado.com,
www.plantdelights.com
www.tytyga.com

...or allowed to spread prodigiously throughout your sandy soil.