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Agave guards your home in two ways: it's also fire-resistant, since it's full of water. Important in brush-fire-prone LA.

Well, you have to use some caution in using these types of plants if you have small kids around. They can poke out eyes.

Other than that, I think these are great plants for keeping unwanted window peepers or animals out of your yard.

I like it, It's definitely dramatic

I used to live in a coastal community with huge waterfront estates. Fenced and gated (for the most part) they also had cacti, lantana, and bougainvillea planted all along the fences. Bougainvillea, for those who don't know, sport long narrow thorns---it is a natural fence. Even those homes without sturdy man-made fences would be ringed in bougainvillea. It makes a beautiful fence. Lantana also has thorns, plus it smells unpleasant, but butterflies and hummingbirds love it.

Crown-of-Thorns is also a good burglar deterrent and it's drought tolerant. It keeps coming back if you live in an area where it doesn't freeze.

Barberry is a good prickly shrub for those of us who live farther north. I think it's pretty tolerant of less-than-great soil and/or dry weather, too.

This is so awesome; I adore agaves. And quite a lot of other prickly things, actually. If you were worried about kids, you could have a small cluster under windows, and then have a larger, less prickly planting around it to deter the little ones; say, a low shrub in front of a bouganvilla or agaves in a raised planter. Actually, any large enough planting that would hinder movement around the window would do; it wouldn't even have to be sharp.

Some other guardening plants might include pomegranate, roses, plumbago, trifoliate orange, lemongrass or other sharp ornamental grass, certain junipers... if you were really cruel, you could plant rue along with one of those. It won't act as a deterent, but some people are allergic to it (yeah, wear gloves when planting)... and it has quite attractive foliage.

Actually I have another question bailyb touched on... has anyone ever done a dog-resistant planting?

Plant holly under your windows of course! Plus it's evergreen, and provides berries for the birds in the winter. There are many types of lantana, so I don't know what kind Sunny Blue is used to, but all the lantana I've ever smelled has a lovely, slightly spicy smell (it's related to verbena). But yes, it attracts butterflies, is drought-hardy, and comes in almost any colors you want. I'm also thinking about planting blackberry bushes under some windows - very prickly, but also fruiting!

Oh, one more... pachycereus marginatus, aka Mexican fencepost cactus.

http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/showimage/46147/

Its also good if you have teenaged daughters keeps those Romeos away LOL

this is beautiful.

On the upper Texas coast, lantana---mostly the Spanish Flag variety (yellow and red)---is considered an invasive specie. I always let it grow out of consideration for the butterflies and humming bird, but I think it smells like cat pee. Other varieties must have a more pleasing fragrance.