Hi Tom,

Agreed about the variations - they seem endless. Does it pup for you and that's your oldest one? Mine pups prolifically and it looks like yours, somewhat....Yours sure has pleasing knuckle-puncturing pointies

A. potatorum is actually solitary, the plant in Post #2 is of unknown origin and called A. 'Confederate Rose'.

@Jeff - Mine does pup profusely...this is the mama (is that how you spell 'mama'? or is it momma?...). Very nice plant you have there, btw. Your leaves look a little thicker and flatter than mine.

@GermanStar - so, are you saying that potatorum does not pup? I have a few other alleged potatorums (kissho kan...var. verschaffeltii...) and they all pup profusely. Any opinion on what the plant in post #1 is?

Thanks.

Tom

...I think mine could be 'confederate rose', too...here is a pic I found online claiming to be confederate rose (looks more like mine than Jeff's, though...)...

Here is a link that might be useful:

'Kissho Kan' is an A. isthmensis cultivar, rather than A. potatorum.

If the plant in Post #1 pups profusely, I would go with 'Confederate Rose' there as well.

A. potatorum may throw a pup or two when very young, so it isn't completely unheard of, just rare. A. isthmensis, A. seemanniana (aka A. pygmae), and A. potatorum are similar and frequently confused.

This post was edited by GermanStar on Tue, Dec 11, 12 at 0:15

My confederate rose came labeled as A. parrasana. I wish if someone is going to go through the trouble to create a hybrid that they would at least keep up with the ssp.

I remember the A. parrasana tag -- ridiculous. I recall a lengthy discussion on XW about this plant, and in the end, no one had a clue...

I wonder if 'Confederate Rose' is covered in Greg Starr's new book...I will have to check when I get home...

Tom

GS,

So its proper name is Agave potatorum 'Confederate Rose' or just plain old Agave 'Confederate Rose'? Thanks for the proper ID for it. Do you want one of these?

Tom,

Find out for us, will you? If he doesn't have it in his book, it's something else to harass him about (he claims he still has 20 years to revise Gentry's book, as Gentry took 50 years to issue his opus magnum).

I suppose it should just be called A. 'Confederate Rose'. It is not A. potatorum, a much larger, solitary plant.

Not in Greg's book, no.

Here is my example of A. potatorum. Believe me, I only wish it would offset. It will outgrow this pot soon, and I'll almost have to put it in the ground to face the elements, where the first bad cold spell might swat it dead.

GS,

Is it always variegated, The Pototorum, or is that a cultivar, like 'Kichijokan'? It sure is a pretty thing. You could repot into fresh soil, root-pruning it and put it back into the same pot. I'll offer my humble self to be the pin cushion when I visit you. Juggling agaves for fun is just part of what we do.

No, in fact, rarely variegated. That is A. potatorum 'Snowfall'. It tripled in size this year and reaches about 3' in diameter. At 18" (8" just nine months ago), it's still a baby. I'll probably plant it out somewhere this Spring and hope for the best, along with an A. tequilana 'Sunrise' (also tender) that's suffering in a pot.

My Agave potatorum 'Cameron' is a really fast grower for an Agave - started as a small plant c. 6-7" dia. in early 2008, and now is over 3ft in diameter and really crowding out the GB!

Very nice! Did it take much damage winter before last?

If you look at the leaves nearest the ground in the front you can see some of the damage from the winter before last. The freezes burnt the ends of the largest leaves. I didn't see any impact to the younger leaves.
Of course, the plant was quite a bit smaller then too.
Here's a photo of the plant taken in November 2009...I think this was a year before the bad winter, right?

That's not bad at all. I wonder about A. potatorum and A. isthmensis in particular, in regard to hardiness. Each plant is considered 10a, yet I've heard anecdotal evidence these plant are not as tender as reported. I'm assuming you didn't take extraordinary measures (i.e. provide a covered heat source), and your plant survived at least a couple long low-to-mid-twenties nights. And being a fast grower, I'll bet it looked pretty nice again by the time mid-summer came rolling along. I had several plants killed by those two 3-day cold snaps, and though only one Agave bit the dust, a few more were looking pretty ragged for a while.

Yeah - no measures to protect it at all, and that winter we got down to the low-mid twenties a couple of times at least...coupled with the wind, it was misery! And it did indeed seem to recover quickly.
Probably my most affected Agave was my A. macroacantha - most distal 1-2" of each leaf was burned...and, it took until this spring for it to really recover so as you don't notice the damage without looking for it.
My only Agave concerns now are ones I obtained just this year, so I'll keep an eye on them closely (chazaroi, nizandensis, & pelona) and may even cover them once we drop to 30-32 to be safe.

A. pelona is good down to about 20ðF, so not a concern. On the other end, A. nizandensis is a reported 10b plant, so very tender. I have mine potted, it can never see ground in my neighborhood -- all manner of vermin could chew that pathetic little thing to a stub in no time. I may as well plant Aeoniums in my yard.

Good news about A. pelona! I was worried about that one for some reason...it just 'looks' so delicate! = )
My A. nizandensis has been in-ground since January 1st last year, so made it through half a winter already.
When cold-stressed, it took on a really maroon-ish color (starting to now), and when it warmed back up in Spring, it went green again. It's a favorite of mine, so I am hoping it will be OK! I'll definitely keep an eye on it of the temps drop too much more. (had ice crystals in the bird bath this morning!)
I feel for you with vermin...I'm just luck thrashers haven't taken a liking to my Agaves. Yet.
Thanks for the great info!