One of our favorite clones of the North American native, Agave x protamericana is Agave ‘Funky Toes’. Below is our clump in mid-February, looking no worse for wear after a low of 14 degrees F. This is a splendid introduction from the former Yucca Do Nursery, that we’ve grown since 2004, and is a natural
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Most years in fall, we sell off several of our large potted specimen century plants to make room in our overwintering greenhouse. 2024 was no different, but as is usually the case, all of the plants don’t sell. One that didn’t move was our large pot of Agave asperrima ‘Grand Duke’, so we decided to
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Looking lovely this week in the garden is our clump of Agave x protamericana ‘Silver Surfer’. This 2007 Plant Delights/JLBG introduction is our winter hardy (Zone 7b) selection from seedlings of a 1992 Yucca Do seed collecting expedition (YD 45-83) at 5,200′ in Palmillo, Tamaulipas, Mexico, where Agave americana ssp. protamericana intergrades with Agave asperrima.
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In 2015, we were potting seedlings from our cross of two hardy century plants, Agave lophantha and Agave x pseudoferox (salmiana var. ferox of Hort.), when we found one with a tiny yellow streak on one leaf. Over the years, it grew larger until it was large enough to core, which we do to promote
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While most folks think of wabbits when the hear Peter Cottontail, I can’t help but think of a very special Mexican century plant, Agave albopilosa. Agave albopilosa is simply the most amazing agave species ever discovered, and one that took the succulent world by storm when it was first published in 2007. The small population
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Several years ago, plantsman Hans Hansen shared an Agave ovatifolia mutation he’d found. This unusual sport shared a trait of many hosta, viridescence. This occurs in both gold and variegated hostas which are brighter in spring, but age to green. Such is the case with Agave ovatifolia ‘Awakening Angel’. We had a theory that this
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Our garden patch of Agave lophantha ‘Splendida’ is looking rather splendid this morning as we approach December. This patch started as a single rosette in 2013, so has now been in the ground for a little over a decade. We think it’s one of the best forms of the North American native Agave lophantha that
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Below are three of our final selections of Agave x ovox, which we made out of several hundred seedlings. These are each sister seedlings from our cross of Agave ovatifolia x Agave pseudoferox ‘Bellville’ It’s always interesting to see how many different ways the genes sort out. These are from our 2018 cross, and only
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It’s fascinating to see how many amphibians in the garden are drawn to agave leaves. We find more amphibians resting on agaves than any other plant in the garden. Here is our latest image capture of our native green tree frog, Hyla cinerea.
Desert-dwelling Amphibians Read More »
So often we think we know all about a plant, when we’ve only grown a single clone, and we all know what happens when we assume! A good example is the Southwest US native Agave parryi ssp. truncata, which is now grown around the world. 99.9% if the plants in commerce are a single clone,
