Karen yes I love flower world!!! The nursery I posted about earlier was Swansons, they're closer to me

I'm pretty sure I visited Swanson's once with my sister. I used to try to always visit during the holidays so I could enjoy the wonderful poinsettia tree at FW. Their decorations always got me in the Christmas mood. We don't have any nurseries in the southwest that are quite like FW.

Esperanza and gg5 thank you so much for the nice compliments on my aloes.

Esperanza on your opinion about that evil institution. Couldn't agree with you more!

I don't shop the store but I do shop the garden center
Unfortunately on a VERY painfully middle class budget, as much as I'd like to go to HD or L's or the local nursery I can't afford to pay $17.99 for the same plant at the same size that the draconian evil place is charging $7.99 or .40 cents for often in the same conditions and with more limited selections.

As for our nurseries in my neck of the woods. There's one close to where I live and the others are almost an hour or more away. All their prices are surreal!. Forget $17.99 lets, try $47.99 for the same sizes, same plants and same conditions! And then some of them wonder why they struggle or go out of business! Seriously?

Although I will admit I did get an outstanding deal on 2 Octopus Agaves one time. They had literal hundreds of them for $5.99 each. They were really good size so I took 2 of them.

Wanted more but considering they get 4 feet by 4 feet I had to exercise some restraint. The ones I bought were already 1 foot by about 1 and a half! I'll post a photo of them. So I was rather pleased with this.

I'm also lucky my husband tolerates the ever increasingly crowded yard that he claims he now has to 'waltz' through to get around things with spines just so he can make his way through it, (He's gotten stuck by something more than once! )

AND.... the fact I moved our desk into a nook... AND turned our 'office' into a temporary (I promised) sunroom for winter,

AND... the fact that I am now aggressively attacking the back yard with raised brick beds I've been building!

I'm not going to push my luck or my husband over the edge arguing my politics with him when the evil place is less than 15 minutes down the road. Hate to lose all my future plant privileges! So I hope you all will forgive me of my one sin here in this regards?

AG

plantmanager said:I've noticed that my flowers on the milii fade out quickly. The little orange ones are only orange for a few days and then they are yellow. They hang on a long time, though, which is nice. My larger thai hybrid doesn't seem to fade out much. The larger flowers stay pretty much the same over time.

Does yours start out darker pink and then fade to the pale color?

Yes, they do seem to fade in color later on. I do notice if it is a really nice warm temp day, their colors are better, like temps in the mid 70's to mid 80's. That was why I am surprised to see this one I have bloom right now, it is not anywhere near those temps. Unless because I have been able to put it right by the south facing window, maybe it really helps, getting quicker access to direct sunlight, although sunlight duration is rather short during winter. I tend to take photos often, fun to see how the growth varies season to season.

My little rant was more to remind myself not to be tempted to go there. I see so many people sharing their great deals that I get a little jealous and want to go play and come home with the good stuff for cheap also. I do search out deals to support my habit. I don't have a big budget either, or any budget at all really.

I would love to see pics of the octopus agaves. I got one last spring that was in a 4" pot with 2 leaves and ratty as all get out but it starting to look decent now. My fave agave now is my squid agave I seem to favor the fancy kinds that have to be brought in for winter.

Karen, if I see them next time I will with your gentle nudge gonna go for it! And maybe a few others to make a little dish. If they start getting too big......eh..... I will deal with that later

Deebie said: I recently acquired a foxtail agave and a variegated one. .

Deebie, is yours still small? A friend gave me an agave that sure looks to be one but I am not certain. The leaves are pretty thin for an agave and after pouring over hours of photos I am almost convinced that's what it is and I have always wanted one so I will be kind of disappointed if it is not. I will get a photo later and see what you think.

AG I hope you have a photo of your husband maneuvering in your yard!
When I visited the Huntington Garden in LA (in December) several types of agaves were huge, I had know idea they got so large!!

A foxtail agave, love the name!

This is why it's called 'Foxtail' Agave... that is the bloom, it will eventually become about 8 ft. long.

Beautiful Foxtail Agave.
This one looks quite happy and like it has room to thrive and show off. They are definitely statement makers in the right place and space.

gg5

I'm going to have to see if I can find the one picture of him outside standing between my 2 agaves. He has on a green shirt and is holding his arms out. He says now days that's the only way he can get my attention!

Agaves can get positively massive!! Especially what they call Century Plants. There's several types but these are A. americanas and A. weberii

For size reference my husband is 6 foot 6 inches tall. I'm 5 feet 3 inches tall. All of these photos were just public landscaping across from a plaza. The land just so happened to
border a desert. The last 2 are A. weberii. I thought the very last photo interesting as it is a dead one. I had a neighbor behind me that owned one of the Century plants. Next post I'll show its removal and remains!

Agavegirl, those removal pics brought back memories! When I was a child in Phoenix, my parents owned a couple of acres that they didn't use. They had planted Agave americana on them. Years later when they sold the land so townhouses could be built, the plants had to be removed. It was a huge job! I still remember them tearing them out. I was sad because they were beautiful, but no one wanted to take them for replanting. They were too common.

It's sad that they die after they bloom. I look forward to my plants blooming. For a century plant, I would dread it. They haves lots of pups you can replant, but there is a large area left bare after the mother plant dies. They usually bloom anywhere from 12 to 20 years old.

For what it's worth, WM is the biggest retailer in Mexico, and they moved in relatively recently (compared to the US stores anyway). Their takeover in this country was driven by lots and lots of timely "grease" lubricating the bureaucratic wheels, which makes the situation particularly nasty from the standpoint of good government. So I wouldn't think of going there unless I couldn't get something anywhere else, but I too am perfectly content to enjoy pictures of plants bought there.

Pictures here of two Dudleyas on the patio after the rain. Both are seedling volunteers, second most likely a hybrid (faint powdery dusting). The first plant is actually smaller than the one of the same species that got munched to a nub by bunnies when I put it in the ground (photo above behind wire cage).

They do leave a large open space, but there normally are a lot of babies. Our neighbor across the street has a dead one right now, waiting to be taken out. I prefer the ones that don't die after they bloom.

Hi Plantmanager,

I've talked to a lot of ex AZ people so far. Are you familiar with the park where I've been taking all of my photos?

Yeah it is sad they don't want them because they are so gorgeous BUT they reproduce like mad! Under those big plants and tons and tons and tons and tons and tons of pups! The mother plant pretty much sits on them. So when she goes there are plenty to replace her.

It takes about 35-40 years for the Century plants to get their stalk and of course that's the swan song...they're caput after that and will die anyway so removing is necessary. The flowers and pods on it are pretty interesting too.

It is a horrific job removing these things. Long sharp spear like leaves with lateral spines. They're tough, coarse fibrous and woody. Oh...and they have this wonderful toxic sap that if you get it on you causes hives, burning, itching and hangs around for a week or more and can come back again later. The plant does not want to be messed with!

They are amazing in the heat, drought, yucky soil, rain, frost etc. You can't kill these things or their pups. The pups grow fast! I'm convinced you can fling them out a car window and they'll grow anywhere they land. A neighbor gave me 12 when she cut down her plant. (below photos) Uhm...I had to give 10 of them away when I saw how big they were getting and how fast.


Pretty plants and they never cease to amaze me though. They probably are my favorite desert plant. I'm always awed by how HUGE this thing is. It's a plant! Are plants supposed to be that HUGE? I kept waiting for it to say, "Feed me..."

If I didn't know what I was looking at I'd swear it was something from Mars.

They were the reason though I got into gardening here. I just found their shapes so alluring and wanted to have things that looked like living sculpture and works of art in my yard. So this gnarly beast of a plant inspired me and started all of my gardening obsessions.

Here's some photos of pups and some of my neighbor's plant when it was dying/dead and they carted it away.

Great pics! It is sad when they die, but you're correct, there are lots of babies and they do grow quickly!
I'm not anywhere near San Tan park. I'm in northeast Scottsdale. We usually go tothe Pinnacle Peak area.

Sooo . . . . being that the foxtail agave, a. attenuata, gets huge. I wonder how long I will be able to keep it in a pot. I picked it up off the clearance section of HD about a month ago and it's in a 3 qt. pot. I'll upload a picture soon, but it's a little ragged right now from being abused at the store. Sorry about the photo quality. I took it with my IPad instead of a camera.



I'm not sure of the label on my other plant. Can it be the variegated form?:

Both of those plants are Agave de-meesteriana, previously known as A. desmettiana. Also a very nice plant, and unusual looking for an agave. The normal and variegated forms grow to about the same size and behave similarly in cultivation.

Smooth Agave (Agave de-meesteriana)
Smooth Agave (Agave de-meesteriana 'Variegata')

A. attenuata has absolutely no spines at all, neither at the end of the leaves nor along the margins. It is also a much larger plant that grows a trunk over time.

Thanks for letting me know the true ID of these plants and for the links. It just goes to show that you can't trust the labels that the BB stores place on their plants. Also, it gets huge. I may have to rethink this, although the variegated plant is pretty.

Here is my babe that I am wondering about. It has smooth edges and the leaves are vey thin compared to any of my other agaves.

Deebie said:Thanks for letting me know the true ID of these plants and for the links. It just goes to show that you can't trust the labels that the BB stores place on their plants. Also, it gets huge. I may have to rethink this, although the variegated place is pretty.

Deebie, you can still enjoy them for a few years keeping them pot bound and just keeping a pup some winter when you can no longer lug mommy plant inside anymore. I have some I will be doing that with this winter. We have not even froze yet so I might have them around another year.