Wow, have you seen the Ebay prices they're getting on the Agave 'white rhino'?

Here are mine. Not as nice as some of yours. They spend half of their time inside with very little light.

Karen, A friend on Garden Web promised me a small A. White Rhino and now with Ebay prices out of this world, I think my chances are slim to none (with slim on vacation) now of getting one. Well, I got the next best thing with Lemon Lime. (Yellow instead of white).

Gary, We are in the same zone so we can't expect to compete with those who can grow them outside year round. Yours looks very nice. I had a few of those big ones. After getting bit up every year moving them in and out, I was glad to find them a good home.

Yes Gary, your agaves are pretty amazing. It must get awful tight in the basement or wherever they all go for the winter.

Thanks CareBear, Baja! They pretty well stay on the same rack. I move it inside in the unfinished part of my basement. Very little light.

My oh so common Agave applanata 'Cream Spike'



A baby A. ovatifolia that is greener than most I've seen.

Nothing so common about 'Cream Spike'. Wish I knew you had so many pups. I paid $7 each plus shipping for mine, And that was a good deal.
A new friend offered me pups from his Agave 'Ivory Curls', 'Blue Glow', 'Joe Hoak', A. ovatifolia (gets huge), A. nizandensis. I know it's too big for me but I love that ''Blue Glow'. It is a slow grower and mostly doesn't pup. Maybe 'Ivory Curls' sounds nice but I'm afraid of size as well.
About Blue Glow;
Agave 'Blue Glow' is a slow-growing evergreen hybrid succulent. It is a cross between Agave ocahui and Agave attenuata which produces a glow-like appearance rosette of blue-green, chalky leaves with red toothed margins with a golden and red ribbon.
He has a 'Snow Glow' sport of Blue Glow; almost never pups.



My area for wintering over my agaves is one 3 foot by 2 foot cellar window facing South. I used to use my unheated unfinished section of my basement but one winter it went to 20 degrees and froze one of my plants. Most agaves can take that temp but hurts them.

Only a few here in my garden that can tolerate our humid wet summers, but have enjoyed all your Agaves.
Marginata angustifolia


geminflora long spike


geminflora short spike


desmettiana ( I had a variegated one but it died from root rot) This one does fine with wet weather and has a couple offsets.


Agave x leopoldii (This doesn't grow much, so maybe not too happy in Florida, but it hasn't died either)

Found a few more fairly recent pictures:

Agave vilmorriniana and Agave applanata 'Cream Spike', which interestingly appears to not be as happy in the ground as it was in a pot:


Agave x arizonica and Agave parryi var. truncata:


Agave chrysantha with Agave salmiana (back left) and Agave americana ssp. protoamericana (back right) and Agave guiengola:

mcvansoest, your yard looks like a Botanical Garden. Very well maintained. If my yard, I would have park benches to sit and stare at them for hours on end.

When I used to visit my friend down Clearwater, Florida I saw many of those Agave angustifolia. I used to have two very large ones myself. Seen them chopped up with hedge cutters to remove the sharp ends. Looks stupid. I used finger nail clippers to clip just the very end of the black tips off. That way it hurts less and looks okay. Those side spines always got me even with long sleeve jackets on.
I think I still got some old pictures from there.






Mine. I do miss them. Only outside 6 months out of the year.

Stush, thanks! No park benches, but I have a strategically placed rock with a flat top that in cooler parts of the year, I end up sitting on just soaking up the yard.

Those are good looking plants, my A. viviparra does not yet have the trunk going. From what I have seen in other people's yard they tend to flower before much of a trunk has formed.

When you restrict the root growth and grown 1/2 the year in super dry dark conditions, I think it restricts itself from flowering. It got too big to fit into any windows.

@Stush2019 What a good idea about clipping the tips off with fingernail clippers, I get stabbed often when trying to clean leaves out of them...thanks, don't know why I didn't think of it before . I do wear clear goggles when leave cleaning, got stabbed in the forehead pretty good once.

I love the A. Americana, they do get big, wish I had a good spot for one.

Stush2019 said:My area for wintering over my agaves is one 3 foot by 2 foot cellar window facing South. I used to use my unheated unfinished section of my basement but one winter it went to 20 degrees and froze one of my plants. Most agaves can take that temp but hurts them.

Thank you for sharing that. To me, agaves seem like one of those plants (or groups of plants) that show definite benefit from being grown outdoors. I mean, compared to things like Gymnocalyciums or Mammillarias or Aloes--I've seen all three grown indoors just as healthy as any grown outdoors in warmer areas. But I've never seen a well-aged, healthy, well-grown agave that's been grown indoors its entire life.

I had a picture and even enlarged it and laminated it and hung on my wall in my office but can't find it or it's negative. Was on 35 mm film. Took back some where in 1985 of a variegated blue agave that was as big as a house. Each leaf was 12 to 15 foot long. It took my breath away and I made the bus operator stop so I could go out and take it's picture. Took only one because he was in a bad area in LA off the freeway that was blocked. He was so scared to even stop for a second. We was on a tour bus of LA. Wife said she may know where it is. Can't wait to show every one. Never seen an agave so big. Never seen one even 1/2 that size now or on the internet.

I hope you find it, Stush. I've seen big ones, but never that big! I know what you mean about bad areas of LA. I once got lost and had to stop to read a map. It was in the days before GPS. I was terrified, even with all the windows up and doors locked.

Was our first trip to LA and didn't know anything about the place. We had the greatest time on just bus tours right from our hotel. Looking at how crazy traffic was I was glad not to be driving. I just though about that agave. It wasn't in bloom!! When and if it sends up a bloom stock, they would have to put a blinking light for air planes. Maybe it was a freak that doesn't bloom so all it's energy goes into size. Google large Agave and saw a A. Cream Spike in bloom. Holy Cow, hope mine never blooms. What would happen if I cut the bloom stock as soon as I see one? I know the plant will still die but produce pups? The one I saw looked to be 20 ft. high! I have an old house with 10 ft. ceilings and even in my hall way, maybe could get to the 20 ft. mark but really?

A good chance it was Agave mapisaga. They can get really big, in this post a buddy of mine is sitting on one at the Huntington, which has since flowered:

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

It's like coming back from fishing and remembering how big the fish was . Each time you tell it, it grows! That's why that picture is so important to me. I remember it was variegated.

Well of course I had to get in on this! Agaves......my favorites.
From my front yard today. Went out and watered this a.m. as we got no rain last night. Need to water the back tomorrow.







I've really been enjoying seeing what everyone grows. Thanks for sharing all. Very nice collections that you all have and the pride in ownership is evident.