Gorgeous agave!

Incredible variability...but I love them all. I am officially obsessed with all things agave.

T

I did observe that some of the agave came with huge roots compared to their uppers. The nice large blue Baccatta did not have them, but they were growing in the most humus-sy clay I have seen in a while. The others were grown hard that had the behemoth roots. I suspect the Baccatta is a tissue cultured plant that was pushed and mainlined fertilizer. I probably should wean it off the hard drugs slowly.

Yes I am addicted to agaves and I am lining up my next variety for obsession. It is a toss up between Agave potrerana and a vist back to Agave ovatifolia. My two large ones need company so when they bloom there is one to keep the show going. I think you see them beyond the trees in the last photo. There are some new ones with very distinct different varieties of the Ovatifolias. They are crenelated. I am developing a soft spot for The A. utahensis eborespina. They are hard to find good varieties.

I think all the varieties experience variability. I have three small A. coloratas that range from blue white to a striped more grey green.

All this makes me buy in batches, looking for variability.

"Incredible variability...but I love them all. I am officially obsessed with all things agave."

Me too Tom. aka Tequila! ;)

Beautiful Agaves! Thanks for sharing!

Wow, your going to have fun id'ing all those! The one from Greg is true to form. And how beautiful is that going to be.

Love your Baccarats, mine is only 6" across. But hopefully being in the ground for a year now it will start to grow soon!

Wantanamara, Fest your eyes on this beauty, I believe It's in the Agave family and isn't she gorgeous.

Greg

One other member of the family which is very common but looks nice with the back drop.

Greg

Yes we get the large varigated americanas here in Texas also. They are pretty graffic. The Agave montana is fairly new to cultivation. Feast your eyes on the adults of the clan in habitat. It is worth your time to click through these habbitat pictures. You will see why I have gone a little gaga over them. If the page comes up with the ? marks all over where the images are supposed to be click the question marks and that image will pop up. This page is from Starr Nursery and he just wrote a great book on Agaves and the Agave montana graces the cover.

Here is a link that might be useful: Agave montana

Wantonamara, I really enjoyed your observations about A. montana. It's interesting how variable the montanas can be from the same seed order. Here are some photos of some of mine in the ground and in pots:

Montana again

Last pic of one in the ground.

And a few in pots.

For some reason, I couldn't figure out how to show the pics all in one posting.

Those other agave (?) photos are beautiful too. The reason for the ? is that I'm not sure what Greg's first plant is?

OOOH, you have some beauties. Yummy!

Linda, it is easy, go to your picture provider. I use Flicker pro. Look for a way to share or anything that mentions HTML code.. Flicker has "SHARE" and when I click it gives me several choices I Grab the HTML/ BBC code. Ths site uses HTML code so I select that. Other sites might use the BBC code.. Copy and paste or drag it to the text of your message. This way you can do multiple pics.

For thatlittle bit of instruction you MUST pay some A. montana seed. All kidding aside. Where did you get your seed.I like your agave. I have seen so many mediocre ones.

- Mara

Thanks for the posting tips Mara. I will do it that way next time.

I know you were just kidding, but I would happily send you some seeds if I had some. I actually have more plants than I can manage, and it's too bad that the border complicates things when it comes to mailing plants. I bought my seeds from http://www.rarepalmseeds.com/pix/AgaMon.shtml several years ago and they all germinated. I actually lost the largest montanas (at the time)when we had a relatively nasty winter a few years ago and I left about ten of them outside in pots. In my winter soggy climate, I put a rain cover (large plastic bottle) over the ones in the ground the last few years to protect them from the rain and so far, so good. I think people are finding that this agave is not quite as tolerant of the combination of winter wet and cold as originally thought, although from what I've read, some people have had more success than others. You might enjoy this article by Paul Spracklin, the collector of the montana seeds.

Here is a link that might be useful: Searching for Hardy Agave

Some gorgeous, albeit vicious-looking, agaves you have there, Mara!

Those agave are sweet, my man!!!!

Linda, I would like to ask how you germinate your agave seed since you had such good luck with them. What time of year,how warm it was,how long yours took?? I am pretty rough with seeds and do it fairly bassically.

I have read Pauls S's. article several times a while pack. I hear him on a certain form and I have read about his trip to mexico and his time on "the mountain of montanas".

Mara, I really didn't do anything special. I find that agaves (and yuccas) are very easy to start from seed. I have started them at many different times of the year, including the dead of winter. In the winter I put seedlings under flourescent lights because of the short and grey days. I usually start by soaking the seeds for a day or two or until they sink. I then put them in small community pots partially (mostly) covered with plastic to keep the humidity up. Sometimes I've put them up high on top of kitchen cupboards where it's warmer, but not always. Other times I've started on a table under flourescent lights. I sow the seed close to the surface and cover the pots in a thin layer of grit/sand. I spray the surface lightly with water most days, so it doesn't dry out. They often germinate in under one week, at which time the plastic covering is removed. Of course, there are other effective ways to start them, but this procedure has never failed for me.

Good luck with your agave seeds!! :-)