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Thursday, June 21, 2012

LOSS AND GAIN

I may have lost all the buckeye caterpillars on my snapdragon vine but by golly I have pups coming out of my ears.


I counted 10 new pups under the mother Agave pototorum 'confederate rose' It seems to like life in the hypertufa pot in the herb garden.


This small agave, with its leaf imprinting and burgundy spines, forms a dense a rosette of leaves and is perfect for a specimen plant in a pot. This agave would not be hardy enough to plant in the garden but would be happy to spend the summer in the ground and then be potted up for winter safety. With so many pups I may try some in the ground next year. The others I will share with my gardening friends.


Then yesterday I noticed another little pup. This time on the Agave parryi which I had purchased at the Desert Botanic Garden in Phoenix several years ago and brought home on the plane, fingernails clipped! This is exciting news.


Which made me take a look at the Agave ovatifolia, which I purchased at BSN and about which there was some controversy when I noticed a pup. The whale's tongue agave does not usually pup.


I hadn't looked for a couple of years so I pulled back the lower leaves and sure enough there it was. A long and lanky pup.


Not nearly as handsome as its mum but then give it time.

8 comments:

  1. I love plants that propagate themselves, especially those that don't do it prolifically. It's so exciting! I've only added a few Agaves to my garden this year, and am surprised that one of them has already produced a pup, even as a very small plant. :-)

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  2. Enjoy all those pups and your putting smiles on everyones' faces with pup gift. When I weed, I really have to watch for cactus volunteers and agave pups...most everywhere...

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  3. What a nice litter!

    Beautiful A. parryi and ovatifolia. I've got a couple of those A. pototorum too, and wow...they reproduce like rabbits!

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  4. Do you keep the A parryi outside in winter ? Such lovely plants !

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  5. I've been keeping my ovatifolia stunted in a tiny pot since I've seen how big Pam's is. Wish I could figure out where to let it grow! What beautiful blues and silvers your agaves bring.

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  6. I've got pups a-plenty myself on various and sundry agaves. I could go into the agave business at this rate ...

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  7. There's a lot of pupping going on around my corner of Katy, too! I may go into business selling agaves!

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  8. Your Whale's Tongue has really filled out since I last saw it, and it looks quite ovatifolia-ish to me now. Strange about the pups, but they seem pretty rare if you've only had two in all this time. Mine has never pupped. There must be slightly different varieties out there, eh?

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