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Although this could very well be a picture of me finding a new treasure at a favorite nursery, it's actually an illustration by David Catrow for a children's book called Plantzilla.

Monday, December 16, 2013

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.

18 comments:

  1. Glad to see that your Agaves that you moved under protection are doing ok. I left two larger unknowns outside that I think are A. americana. They were out under the cover of the front porch a couple of months ago, and I thought they had long enough to dry out. But maybe they just didn't like living at 11 degrees, cause they are quite limp and mushy feeling. My whale's tongue seems fine though, out in the ground.

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    1. Those Whale's Tongue Agaves seem to do pretty well in our climate! Hooray! Sorry about you Agaves americana. They may come back from the roots.

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  2. Wow, thanks for the props, Outlaw! You are so right that FFU sounds like an angry flip of the bird -- unfortunate but what are ya gonna do? It was fun to see your collection of agaves and aloes, and I'm glad to see that most made it through your deep freeze unscathed. I lost one during our less-deep freeze, but it was totally my fault for forgetting to bring it in. :-(

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    1. Sorry about your loss! Agaves are relatively new to me and I'm having a great time with them. I have some tender ones that will become too big to drag inside every winter. Fortunately they don't grow to awfully fast!

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  3. outside of 'hens and chicks' I've never attempted to keep any outside....

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    1. I'm experimenting with them to see which ones can handle our cold and especially our wet conditions.

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  4. Yay for the agaves! I am so glad they're looking so good Peter, well except for Mr. Weber...

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    1. I'm so happy that they decided to live. If Mr. Weber lives, he'll be put in a smaller pot that I can haul inside in the winter. Neither he nor I like him to die back each winter.

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  5. Love your Agaves and am glad they are doing alright with the cold...such interesting plants!

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    1. They are interesting plants. I've only been growing them for a few years now but find a lot to love about them.

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  6. You have a wonderful collection of agaves and they certainly deserve more room to show off.

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    1. They'll get more space when they get to go back outside in the spring.

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  7. Shame about the Agave weberi but the rest are a good news after the freeze. Cross fingers no nasty surprises later on and in the spring.

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    1. Yes, we'd all be happy with no more unhappy surprises!

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  8. Sorry about your Agave buy hey - at least you HAVE foliage.

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    1. Indeed, we're very lucky to live in the evergreen state!

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  9. You have a good collection of agaves though it is a sad that Agave weberi was not sufficiently robust enough to withstand the cold. I like to look at them but I do not like to cultivate them as the thorns look so vicious.

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    1. Weberi was an experiment so it's o.k. that it died back again. Agaves require some respect when working with them like rose bushes.

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Thanks so much for taking the time to comment! I love to hear your thoughts.