To my eyes the color and the form and the spines are extremely elegant and full of character of the type that only gets richer with age. That plant is a couple of blocks away from my doctor's office so I get to see it every year or so... Yes, a fully formed agave, regularly depupped, in a neighborhood full of cactus trees and old succulents. The climate there is extremely mild. San Diego gets ranked as best weather in the world or the US by people who like to rank things.
That part is definitely optional. I like the clumping look a lot too. But if you're going for one big old plant, removing the competition will work to your advantage. I personally am too lazy to depup my parryi plant, shown here a couple of years ago
but I do not ever let some of the other agaves get out of control. For example you really have to depup americana every so often, or you will end up with a thicket and pay the price in blood later.
I like to keep them de-pupped so long as it stays neat looking to my eye. If a pup comes up 18 inches away, I'll leave it cuz it doesn't look too crowded or congested. Sometimes they come up a distance away, other times they hug the mama plant. The latter ones get culled long before they become a problem.
I hope they don't get culled, Tim! I do de-pup most of my agaves just to keep them neater looking. I've let a few form huge masses because they are harder to remove, and so prolific.
Yes, a fully formed agave, regularly depupped, in a neighborhood full of cactus trees and old succulents. The climate there is extremely mild. San Diego gets ranked as best weather in the world or the US by people who like to rank things.
