Duuuuuude,

You came home with a whole Aloe/Agave farm! Nice job. You definitely have some great things to work with and showcase. Do you have some special spot in your yard or landscape design in mind? Are you building a certain type of bed/area for them?

I'm loving those A. sebastiana, A. megalacantha (do you have any pics of this full size?) and A. glomeruliflora.

And yes...I hear you on the work stoppage and temporarily laying plans to rest. I finally got all the weed mesh removed from the back yard lake of fire. (Will confess. Called the neighbor who owns a landscape business to finish it for me. ). YIPPEE......my yard is 100% usable and I can dig and plant to my heart's content.

You would think that would be enough to have me out there jumping and hopping around with shovels and plants like a mad woman. Nope. Next 10 day forecast will be bouncing between 98-80. You figure that one out!

No rain predicted of course. Constant humidity. No cool down in earnest until November 1st. Grrrrr! Enough of this already.

Oh....thank you so much for the I.D. on my Aloe and the suggestion on the Agave. Much appreciated.

Have a great day.
AG

@Cinta look how they have grown! I live in Seattle so growing opuntia outdoors is challenging. Decided to place gravel all around the plants, think this will help, and it did help with flopping over. Can't tell because photo is a funny angle but these are normal sized pads on opuntia
Cheers

AgaveGirl1 said:Duuuuuude,

You came home with a whole Aloe/Agave farm! Nice job. You definitely have some great things to work with and showcase. Do you have some special spot in your yard or landscape design in mind? Are you building a certain type of bed/area for them?

I'm loving those A. sebastiana, A. megalacantha (do you have any pics of this full size?) and A. glomeruliflora.

And yes...I hear you on the work stoppage and temporarily laying plans to rest. I finally got all the weed mesh removed from the back yard lake of fire. (Will confess. Called the neighbor who owns a landscape business to finish it for me. ). YIPPEE......my yard is 100% usable and I can dig and plant to my heart's content.

You would think that would be enough to have me out there jumping and hopping around with shovels and plants like a mad woman. Nope. Next 10 day forecast will be bouncing between 98-80. You figure that one out!

No rain predicted of course. Constant humidity. No cool down in earnest until November 1st. Grrrrr! Enough of this already.

Oh....thank you so much for the I.D. on my Aloe and the suggestion on the Agave. Much appreciated.

Have a great day.
AG

Thanks AG, every time I go to the sales with the intention of showing some restraint and then I come home with a bunch of plants anyway...

Some I will keep in the staging area for now as I think they will take Full Sun and I have strong indications that my last Huge Agave weberi is going to flower this common year, so they will have to wait till next October to be put in the ground. The others are going in the ground where this years Agave weberi that flowered left me about 20-30 square feet of nicely shaded real estate to fill with new plants... So far I have put 6 Agaves and 1 Aloe in the ground in and near that area, with another 3 Agaves planned to go in the ground there for sure, and probably some more Aloes too. Two of the Agaves going in the ground there (one is already in) are going to be huge ones in time themselves, but that is at least 10 years down the road. By that time another mid-size weberi taking up some of the space will have gone to meet its maker creating space for the big ones to grow into. Once its all done I will post some pictures.

Here is a picture of the Aloe megalacantha from the summer of 2015. The big 'head' on the plant in the foreground is the one that got knocked off and is in the pot in the previous photo. I should have some more recent pictures, but my photos are organized up until last summer the rest are just sitting in one big folder so it is hard to quickly find specific photos. That is a project for a rainy day ;) . Right now my Desert Bird of Paradise has grown enough to obscure it, which is nice because it likes some shade, but means I have a harder time keeping an eye on it. So I noticed this morning that it is also working on some flowers.



Sounds like you got a big job done. Have fun planning out all the holes you are going to dig!

gg5 said:@Cinta look how they have grown! I live in Seattle so growing opuntia outdoors is challenging. Decided to place gravel all around the plants, think this will help, and it did help with flopping over. Can't tell because photo is a funny angle but these are normal sized pads on opuntia
Cheers

They are looking great. You are going to see lots of flowers this year.

[quote="mcvansoest"]

Thanks AG, every time I go to the sales with the intention of showing some restraint and then I come home with a bunch of plants anyway...

Define 'restraint'.

The additional 20-30 feet sounds splendid and like a great place to put a whole bunch of new plants. I'm jealous. I sometimes forget how much room the A. weberi and other large Agaves take up. The other one that is going to bloom soon promises to be a grand time spent getting reacquainted with the chain saw and shovel. I keep eyeballing that A. sisalana in my back yard but I think I'll be quite safe for a few years.

And yes, I am happy with the fact my back yard is finally usable. Now I just don't know what to do with it. Have been making a list of plants that live in a lake of fire. I like them but none of them are ringing my bell or thrilling me beyond belief. Kind of that 'I used to undecided but now I'm just not sure' feeling you get sometimes.

Definitely do not want more p.pears or barrels. Like them very much but already have enough of those in the front yard. I have no clue what I'm going to do with those as they get bigger.

So far in the back yard there's an A. sisalana, Bougainvillea, and Bird of Paradise. There's an A. parryi , and a Golden Barrel both residing presently in decorative pots.Always open to suggestions for that shopping list I've been trying to make.

I also have to buy wise and consider space and the amount of monster plants I can have. The husband has become (what I feel) unreasonably possessive and territorial over a corner of the yard. For some reason he thinks we 'need' a BBQ grill more than plants. Yeah. Whatever.

Anyway, your projects sound so much more fun and more organized than mine. Would like to see some pics as your project progresses and the plants get put into the ground.

Next week. We will finally be out of the 90s---or should I say triple digits which is what the weather man threatened for Thursday. Then I can be motivated enough to go out and play in earnest.

The front yard Agaves still look like crap. Yours?

Oh...and really cool pic of your plant! Gorgeous but I'm going to take a wild guess and say this is not a 'lake of fire' plant choice.

AG

gg5 said:@Cinta look how they have grown! I live in Seattle so growing opuntia outdoors is challenging. Decided to place gravel all around the plants, think this will help, and it did help with flopping over. Can't tell because photo is a funny angle but these are normal sized pads on opuntia
Cheers

Greg I have a Opuntia, blooms orange, that has been in my yard for 15 years, gladlt send you a pad or two. PDX weather doesn't bother it.

AgaveGirl1 said:[quote="mcvansoest"]

Thanks AG, every time I go to the sales with the intention of showing some restraint and then I come home with a bunch of plants anyway...

Define 'restraint'.

The additional 20-30 feet sounds splendid and like a great place to put a whole bunch of new plants. I'm jealous. I sometimes forget how much room the A. weberi and other large Agaves take up. The other one that is going to bloom soon promises to be a grand time spent getting reacquainted with the chain saw and shovel. I keep eyeballing that A. sisalana in my back yard but I think I'll be quite safe for a few years.

And yes, I am happy with the fact my back yard is finally usable. Now I just don't know what to do with it. Have been making a list of plants that live in a lake of fire. I like them but none of them are ringing my bell or thrilling me beyond belief. Kind of that 'I used to undecided but now I'm just not sure' feeling you get sometimes.

Definitely do not want more p.pears or barrels. Like them very much but already have enough of those in the front yard. I have no clue what I'm going to do with those as they get bigger.

So far in the back yard there's an A. sisalana, Bougainvillea, and Bird of Paradise. There's an A. parryi , and a Golden Barrel both residing presently in decorative pots.Always open to suggestions for that shopping list I've been trying to make.

I also have to buy wise and consider space and the amount of monster plants I can have. The husband has become (what I feel) unreasonably possessive and territorial over a corner of the yard. For some reason he thinks we 'need' a BBQ grill more than plants. Yeah. Whatever.

Anyway, your projects sound so much more fun and more organized than mine. Would like to see some pics as your project progresses and the plants get put into the ground.

Next week. We will finally be out of the 90s---or should I say triple digits which is what the weather man threatened for Thursday. Then I can be motivated enough to go out and play in earnest.

The front yard Agaves still look like crap. Yours?

Oh...and really cool pic of your plant! Gorgeous but I'm going to take a wild guess and say this is not a 'lake of fire' plant choice.

AG

Hi AG,

With time that sisalana will become a monster - bigger than most weberi, but it should take a good long time and they are tidier plants than the weberi because they do not get floppy - makes the terminal spines somewhat more dangerous, but those can be snipped off. It is also less prone to producing hundreds of pups. They do like being in the ground like most big Agaves do. I put mine in the ground last year and it has doubled in size despite the hot summer.

nope A. megalacantha is not a lake of fire kinda plant. I think that most Aloes should be considered not full sun plants in our neck of the woods - most grow way better if at least partially shaded. Some are OK - Aloe massawana (also known as chinensis - ie. fake Aloe Vera) will take full sun, but looks awful in summer. My A. 'Blue Elf' has made it through a couple of summers now, but never looks pretty until early December or so. Some of the tree Aloes are OK when well rooted but tend to want some careful monitoring the first few years. True Aloe vera is also OK, but probably does better with some shade some part of the day. Aloe x 'Rooikappie' also made it through the summer in the full sun, but the same kind of message: looks pretty bad through out the summer - which can lead to overwatering. Mine simply survive because I have no time to water more frequently than once a week in summer.

Given your territorial battles with the husband, maybe things that tend to grow tall rather than wide - or at least where the lateral expansion can be controlled - may be plants to look at. So more pole cacti types, but I'd aim for things like the Stenocerei rather than the straight up Cerei (like the one you already have in your front yard). Almost all of those take the full sun pretty much without a problem and grow at a decent, but not crazy clip and any time you get an arm/branch that is not going in a direction you like you wait till it gets a decent size cut it off and you have another plant. Another really nice one is Pachycereus marginatus - Mexican Fence Post Cactus. That one actually stays very vertical for quite some time - it will eventually produce enough branches and offset from ground level to also widen some, but generally speaking it is not much a spreader. I may have an unrooted cutting to send you - just have to see if it still looks viable. A totem pole cactus (the monstrose form of the Senita) would also work and has the added benefit of being spineless - a real huggable cactus. So plenty of options...

Some of my Agaves are starting to come out of their summer comas. Not all - probably because the renewed heat of the last week. Yep triple digits in the forecast for tomorrow, sigh...

Agave sebastiana! What a thing of beauty.

Thx, Baja. It is an interestingly short leaved clone though. Most pictures I have seen the leaves are much longer. Despite that it still clearly looks like A. sebastiana.

@madcratebuilder Steve I may take you up on that in the spring! I have several different types here and they've never bloomed for me so can't tell you what they are!
We can figure out a trade in spring!

Thijs,

Thanks for the suggestions. Mexican Fence Post (Pachycereus Marginatus) is one I hadn't thought of as well as the Totem Pole. Very prettythe both of them. And yes, vertical interest is always a plus in the yard.


Of course you know my fondness for monster plants. Presently the A. sisalana is in a raised bed. It seems happy and it has popped up 2 pups. Do you think I should move this in the spring and put it in the ground instead and use the bed for something else? At the present time it is still 'manageable' and could be moved but if it gets bigger than I'll have some serious issues and this won't be possible.

Hmmm....maybe the raised bed would be a great place for that A. parryi or some of the pole cacti.

The Agaves still look yucky but I gave them a good watering today and hopefully that shall perk them up. I checked the ground. I put a trowel all the way down. The hole was bone dry and rock hard. Lets hope the heat wave ends real soon and things start reviving.

I'm curious. How late in the year do you continue to put plants in the ground in your yard? Barring the coldest months do you still plant as long as the weather permits even though we are getting close to November and then into winter (yeah---right, if you can call it that anymore! ).

Thanks,
AG

AG, when it comes to A. sisalana this is what you have to look forward to:

The wall is about 7 ft tall...
It will probably not grow as fast in the raised bed, but it will likely root down into the regular yard surface so will not be slowed down forever. When I planted mine, it had three pups. I potted those up and they got frost damage from the one really cold night we had last winder, the plant in the ground did just fine. One thing I have learned from all the A. weberi's I have grown is to try and harvest the pups as well as I can, otherwise these monsters will already have monster juniors growing right next to them when they flower and then digging stuff up is even harder... So from now on I am going to be pro-active in cutting away older/dead leaves which will make harvesting the pups easier as well.
If you were going to move it, move it sooner rather than later - A. sisalana is a little frost sensitive but if it is happily in the ground it should be fine unless it gets really down into the 20s...

With regards to putting things in the ground I really only stop when it is forecast to get cold and/or wet on the days that I might have planned to plant the plant or shortly after, and I might not plant plants that I know are especially cold or wet sensitive during December-January. I am generally so pressed for time in keeping up with all the planting and repotting that I have to do, given that the planting season does not really start until sometime in October and I feel that it does not last much beyond March (if that), that I cannot afford to take a big break that is not 108F + related... Also I feel that if I plan to plant things the longer they have before the summer hits the better even if that means that the plants have to suffer through some cold/wet spells - they would be doing it in their pots anyway, sun adjustment is way harder for a plant you cannot easily move into the shade if it starts showing sun stress. Ideally I get it all done in October-November, but given the full time job and other chores around the house (and the dog) that is simply not a realistic expectation to have. I really see a clear difference in how plants fare through their first summer based on when I put them in the ground, plants that I got into the ground in the Fall generally do much better than those I planted in the Spring - most of my fatalities from this Summer were from the batch of plants I planted in the Spring...

Thijs

Yippee monster plant! Very nice! Do you have a guestimate on how old you A. sisalana is?

Can't wait for mine to reach that proportion. The last time I measured it, it was 3' 2" tall. Just at the halfway mark.

Appears to be a relatively tidy plant as well. Keeps a more compact 'V' formation and is not sprawling out horizontally with broad, or curling leaves. That was my main concern as it is in a raised bed and I didn't want it crawling over onto the next bed and invading the space making the bed unusable. (see pics) As it is, I think it will be fine in the bed.

I noticed you did not trim the bottom leaves. Is there any harm in doing so? I was thinking it might help with pup collection.

Presently there are only 2 pups by mine----offshoots not suckers. They're about 3" each. I was planning on leaving them until they get close to a foot and big enough to pot up or plant on their own. I think I could manage to wrestle those away from mom easily enough. If I see more I'll definitely get to them quick.

Do Bougainvilleas transplant well? Someone told me they don't. Not sure how reliable this info is since they are not a grower of things termed 'desert plants' or 'cacti'. If they can be relocated easily then I can free up a big chunk of yard space and use my bed for another monster plant. Muhwahahahaha. (Perhaps a 3.5 to 5 gallon variegated A. americana Other ideas on lake of fire monster plants welcomed.) The Bougainvillea can go against a wall.

Good to know also that I can continue my planting through November any way. That means continued shopping. December and January forecasts are questionable and will probably just have to be a day by day thing. I don't know though, as hot and dry as we've been and the way we're going temp wise we'll be lucky to hit 60 degrees in January.

AG

These are from March. Still the same as of now.

Can anyone please ID this cactus for me, it is looking sad I know, but I've begun to take better care following some advice I've gotten on here. Thanks everyone

All I know is Mammillaria. I see the "nipples."

Sorry greg I don't know! Have you thought about cutting the top part off and re-growing it! I have not had to do that yet thankfully, and honestly I I would fail lol. I've heard that applying yellow sulphur powder to the cut it will improve your chances.

Thanks Hamwild and Sy - I really have no idea what it is so getting it to mamillaria is a start! Sy what a good idea, I had thought of doing something but wasn't sure what. The top is actually very healthy looking - I would use cinnamon since I have that and have heard that works for healing the wounds. Guess I am going to have a project here in a few days!

Unfortunately, I'm not much help beyond that. Mammillaria has about 200 (at least) different species.

Try this one:

http://www.agaveville.org/view...

I would not cut the top off - these do not necessarily root from cuttings like that very easily.