Foliage Follow Up December 2013 An Agave Report

I know that it's a long term thing and that all may not be as it seems in the who survived and who didn't department but so far there's good news - Agave ovatifolia 'Frosty Blue' planted in the ground this spring looks and feels like it took our deep freeze in stride.

There's also bad news - Agave weberi did not like the freeze one bit!  If you recall, this Agave died back to the roots last year and came back.  We'll see what happens this year.  If it comes back, I'll dig it out of this huge pot and put it in a pot that can be brought in the winter.  I don't like this death and resurrection thing with agaves, they take too long to look handsome again!

Agave  parryi 'J.C. Raulston'  in a pot right next to A. weberi is saying, "freeze, there was a freeze?  We didn't notice."

Of course the Agaves that have been brought inside the glass room or one of the upstairs rooms are all doing well, no sign of scale this year which makes me very happy. 

What of the back porch lovelies that are sheltered from the rain but not the cold?

Everyone seems happy as can be!  I'm thinking that the demise of my A. 'Jaws' last year was due to my bringing it in too late when it was already too wet. Both of the new ones seem just fine.  So over Christmas break I'm going to have to get outside, cut down the lilac and various other bushy stuff next to the back seating area to make room to put pavers down and create risers of some sort to better show off these plants which will also now get more ornamental pots.  The existing Danger Gardenette area is simply too small for all of the plants that keep following me home!  An unexpected perk of blogging just smacked me in the head.  I hadn't realized how much these had grown until I looked back a season or two.  Interesting. 

The Aloe polyphylla, which like the others on the back porch is bone dry  is pretty limp after the freeze.  It's supposed to be hardy to 10 degrees F.  We'll see.

These look very happy.  Agave bracteosa already had those couple of brown spots in October when I saw that the soil in its pot was really wet and brought it under cover.  It had a nice chance to dry out before it got colder out so I'm thinking it'll be o.k.

Foliage Follow Up happens on the day after Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day each month to remind us of the importance and beauty of foliage in our gardens.   FFU (sounds like something a stutterer might yell at a driver with whom (s)he's upset.)  is sponsored by Pam Penick, author of Lawn Gone, mother of the Garden Blogger's Fling and a couple of lovely children, wife, roving photographer,  the owner of Penick Landscape Design in Austin, Texas, and all around delightful person.  Click on over to Digging to join in the foliar  festivities.