Yes, please do take lots of pictures when it blooms. Agaves usually put on a pretty good show.

Hamwild said:Care to come help me weed?

Weeds! We are now officially into weed season after 2 inches of rain this winter... I'm not a big fan of gloves so inevitably the agaves and aloes I'm weeding around will leave me scarred every time I do some work. No complaints though, last time around our weed season started in October, like 4-5 months sooner. One nice thing about drought is the weeding holiday which comes as part of the package.

Patio photo here of an Echeveria which lost a bunch of its leaves above the bottom of the rosette and below the top of it... like a dead ring, which struck me as weird until I realized they were just making way for a couple dozen offsets, now coming into view. I have no idea what caused this particular plant to make so many babies (only half of which are visible in the photo).



And a couple of flowering plants with good style.

Nothing as exciting as above but happy to say my little guys are putting on a regular show for me. They're blooming and adding onto themselves. Too these photos just a few minutes ago.






Aloes are going full tilt.


And more proof that spring is here in the desert.........my Trichocereus grandiflorus is looking to pop out some serious blooms soon. Can't wait to see them!


Little worried about this guy though. He is growing just fine but not crazy about the pale marks. Any thoughts?

Your babies are all looking great, AG. That's what I love about cacti. They bloom and increase with so little effort on our part.

Looks like damage that some Agaves get if they end up seeing sun while still having frozen or partially frozen leaves... Weird that it would hit an Agave parryi truncata though...

Your explanation makes perfect sense considering the plant is in my back yard that I call the 'Lake of fire'. It is still relatively mild and cool in the evenings and early morning right now so there may be some dew lingering on the plant when the sun comes out. Between that and the all day sun exposure it gets it may have caused the damage.

AgaveGirl!
The Agave and cactus in your yard look so good. I love them. Is the shorter blue one in your 4th picture a Blue Agave? Could you share all their names? Not like I can grow them outside. I am thinking if I just get rid of my couch and dining set, I can fit in a few more agave no problem.

Your plants look great.

Your little barrel cactus with the pink flowers in picture three looks like a little imoge sticking out it's little pink tongue. Adorable.

Laurie,
I have an agave that looks similar and might be the same as above that I had for many years. I gave many pups away already and the mother plants stays small at about 6 inches. It is a great house plant.



The following are exactly the same only with some variegation with different names.





And below is my all time favorite. Thanks again to 'Dutchlady1'.


Same type with out the white.


I have pups of the all green type and the last one pictured. Any takers? Just pay postage.

Of course. I would love that. I think my couch would be great on the front porch in the rain! Let me send postage first. Agave attenuata interest you at all??

I think your all time favorite is mine as well. Just beautiful.

lauriebasler said:Of course. I would love that. I think my couch would be great on the front porch in the rain!

My dear, you would fit right in here... just be sure to leave your Christmas lights up year around too.

Nice plants, Stush and a generous offer!

Agavegirl ~ I was really admiring your photos but didn't see a weed in sight. Good work!

Laurie, I have your information already. I have you marked down for some spring stuff. I can add the Agave and let you know what the postage would be. I'll start on this come May.
I think there was a post on one looking for a A. attenuata. That's too big for me. I had some large Blue Agaves and a few Variegated ones that I had to find homes for. It was too taxing to bring them in every year and my window space in the basement was not very good for them.



Every year I had to cut off at least 10 pups and give out. Didn't want to get an over filled pot.
I can't find pictures of my large Blue Agaves. Hope I din't delete them. They were about 4 ft. x 4 ft. I know that's small but not for a house plant. Every time I worked on them to clean up or remove pups, I ended up with bloody arms and deep puncture wounds. I used finger nail clippers to take the very pointy tips off the leaves but too many all along the sides.

Much respect for growing an Agave angustifolia that old in a pot that small. In PA no less.

And all of those variegated agaves, too. Each one its own little mini masterpiece. Interesting that blue one works as a house plant. I would not have expected that. Good to know.

Here's a family portrait with some intrigue about paternity. Step-siblings posing together, as it were. The parentage of these aloe seedlings is known on the maternal (seed) side, but unknown on the paternal (pollen) side. The seed parent was Aloe africana, flowering in the vicinity of a variety of other tree aloes, including other africanas. I want to give away (get rid of) most of them so I can pick a few to bulk up. The question is which ones to keep.



They are arranged there based on leaf shape. The bottom 5 have convex or flat leaves, the top 3 have slightly concave leaf tops. Maybe it's not so obvious in the family portrait so here are a few closeups. The presence or relative absence of spines on the underside of the leaves correlates perfectly with the two groups. There appear to be at least two potential dads.




These 8 plants have an older sibling who germinated about 4 months earlier, and thus is now bigger. It looks like a member of the upper group maybe. Note the relative lack of spines on the underside of the leaves, and the greener color.



So I am going to keep the spiniest blue one (last in the group photo), the most concave-leafed one from the top row, and the older sibling. The remaining 6 will find new homes. Once I show people what an adult africana looks like (height to 8-10 feet), they become much more interested in the seedlings.

The aloe at the left in the back row in this final picture is an Aloe africana hybrid. I am expecting it to match the height of the greenhouse if it manages to survive that long.

Baja, When and if I move in your neck of the woods, I'll be interested. Thanks for the pictures. The one young one almost looks like one of my seedlings that I think is a Aloe cv Wansley. Which some believe is a cross hybrid with one of it's cousins in the Haworthia or Gasteria. Sold with many different names.



Ah.... I guess not. I do have some seedlings that I know I will have to give up due to them out growing my house.

Is the inner coloration of Haworthiopsis attenuata normal? I feel like it isn't. The coloured parts are also noticeably softer than the leaf tips. This plant was previously overwatered, but I cut back on watering and it's been growing without watering for the past two months. I just watered it today since it was starting to shrivel a bit and I am very worried that it could be a sign of rot.

Haworthiopsis attenuata (Haworthia attenuata). Name thru me for a second. Looks fine to me. They do stretch out some this time of year. Looks to need more sun. They don't do well in direct hot sun during summer. Best to give bright shade outside. Mostly when over-watered, they loose their root system. Quickly grows back in proper conditions. This is their growing season right now. During the hot summer, they color up nicely but very slow growth.

Good looking plants guys!

Stush..........really impressive since you live in PA and that's not exactly prime agave or aloe growing climate.

Laurie...........Thank you for the nice compliments on my agaves. I think the one you were admiring is the Agave potatrum. That's the pale blue-gray-green one in the middle in the pic below. To the left is the Agave dee-meteesia and to the right is the Agave funkiana v. 'Fatal Attraction'. Everything in my yard is picked to be sun tolerant and for zones 9B-11since that is my 'environment'. You gotta learn to love what grows where you live.


I can't take all the credit for the yard. It has been with years of mentoring and guidance from Baja and Mcvansoest (Thijs) and help from some others that I've come to have success with my agaves. If you really want to see some amazing specimens you should ask to see some of theirs! Good advice and just growing what will grow in your zone works!

As for the weeds......... They blend in so well with the rocks it is hard to tell that I have them. But have them I do. Pull the little monsters and they are back in full force two days later. I'll be out again considering we got a freak day today.

Temps were 82 which is way above the norm for this time of year but it was gray, cloudy and sprinkling all day. My joke is we got 6 inches of rain. That's 6 drops of rain that hit the ground 6 inches apart from each other. Just enough to re-sprout the weeds and do nothing for the benefit of the plants.

Was outside yesterday briefly checking on the plants and noticed twigs and sticks all over the ground. Couldn't figure out where they were coming from until I looked up. Looks like my roof and I got 'adopted'.

Better hope it won't rain much in the next few weeks... which I guess we can probably count on...

My 'Firesticks' is at it again:

I know why they call them fire sticks, Because if you get the sap on you, it turns to fire on your skin. Then rub your eyes and see fire. Well, I should caution, never to rub your eyes when fooling around outdoors with plants of any kind. Even after washing well, then wash again.
AG, thanks but those agave grew so well that I didn't dare use regular potting soil. I used heavy clay to keep them from over growing. Now the A. Blue American Variegate, started to get nice then base rotted and restarted top and still very small after many years. Seems the nicer they are or the more you love them, the worse or harder they are to grow.

AgaveGirl1 said:Was outside yesterday briefly checking on the plants and noticed twigs and sticks all over the ground. Couldn't figure out where they were coming from until I looked up. Looks like my roof and I got 'adopted'.

I think she likes you.