I Cored An Agave And Plants Awaiting Planting


Agave attenuata variegated, reborn

I left the beautiful variegated Agave attenuata in a pot far too long.  Its health and beauty declined precipitously.  Finally planted in the ground next to one of the Italian Cypresses, it improved a bit, until the tree guys came to cut down the Cypresses in February 2020.  While I asked them not to damage the Agave, and they did indeed carefully work around it,  unfortunately branches fell, errant steps were taken, and chain saw oil splattered.  The one small offset did not survive. 

Ouch!

At that point I decided to core the original Agave in hopes of getting more offsets to replace the damaged original.  "Coring" in this instance means destroying the apical growth point of the plant, which consists of cutting or drilling out the center of the rosettte.  This, theoretically, stimulates dormant side buds, stimulating the production of new rosettes on the stem of the plant.  

Destruction of the apical growth point was not entirely successful, probably due to over caution.  A new rosette grew back from the center.  However, even  botched coring stimulated production of several new rosettes from lower down the stem.  In short:  success! 

Seems like it should be possible to remove that new central rosette and root it as well. 

Two offsets rooted, one given away, more yet to root.  This is a somewhat difficult plant to find, being slow growing and not overly generous with offsets. Tissue culture has (apparently) so far been unsuccessful. 

We're in the midst of a heat wave, so nothing's getting done outdoors except emergency watering.  I will note that the Cuphea cut back to stubs on August 19th...

 ...is coming back afresh: 


Meanwhile, a survey of all plants purchased lately but not yet planted in the ground, intended to strongly discourage any more plant shopping for a while.  The current reason for inaction is the heat wave, a entirely valid excuse until it cools off. 

---Two Grevillea "Medusa"

 --The last Leucadendron 'More Silver'.  The other two have been in the ground several months.  

The pot nicely shaded by Lomandra 'Platinum Beauty'.  Leucadendrons prefer cool, shaded soil for their shallow roots: 

  --Aloe ramossissima:

 --Eucomis 'Sparking Burgundy'  -- will stay in the pot, but needs an appropriate place snuggled into an irrigated planting bed amidst other plants.  Also in the photos, the tissue-cultured Aloe polyphylla, which I have read, will not spiral if tissue-cultured.  Oh, well.  

Two Agapanthus 'Twister', also sold as 'Indigo Frost':

Leucadendron 'Chief', also tucked in where its container is shaded:

In this group photo...counter clockwise from far left...

 ...a new 'Improved Meyer' lemon tree,  another Centaurea ragusina, Agapanthus 'Queen Mum',  Kniphofia caulescens, and Agapanthus 'Prunetucky Summer'.

That's fourteen total...yikes.  I have lots of planting to do.  What have you got in pots waiting for a place in the ground?  More than fourteen?

Comments

  1. The reborn Agave is fabulous! I've never tried coring but seeing a result like yours has me thinking about it. I saved three of the more variegated bulbils produced by my Agave desmettiana a couple of years ago but they have nothing on your plant. I have a few seedlings, two 6-packs of creeping thyme (that I need to check as soon as I hit "send" on this comment), and four Aloe divisions that need planting but I'm holding off on all except the thyme until it gets cooler. My garden's a mess and I need to do a lot of replanting but I want to dig out some of the dead stuff and load up on compost and mulch before I do any intensive planting.

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    1. The Agave has been an interesting experiment and more successful than expected. I'm trying to experiment more, grow from seed and propagate and such, to have more skill as a gardener.

      The mess doesn't show in your garden pictures, but we all expect so much from our gardens.

      Yep, waiting for cooler weather. Looks like we'll get a few days this week to get out there. Looking forward to it!

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  2. I have less than 5 and I just brought those home today so I feel I'm doing good. I'm not that good at keeping pots watered so I try and get them in the ground although that often means that I don't plan the location well and it has to be moved again in the future. That is a beautiful agave.

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    1. Less than 5 is very good indeed. I admire your plant-shopping restraint.

      Pots are tough here because they dry out so fast--in hours. I try very hard to get the spot in the ground right the first time because I hate hate hate moving plants unless they are small. My least favorite garden activity.

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  3. I have so many cactus in pots that really should go in the ground if I had a beautiful BIG garden like yours! I don't, so they stay in pots. Also I have just gotten 2 Yucca desmetiana 'Blue Boy' that definitely need to go in the ground this fall. Have you any experience with them? I am not sure how much sun they can take here in Phoenix, the sun capital of the USA!

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    1. Have not grown 'Blue Boy', so can't say--also Phoenix is a challenging climate--here is easy-peasy by comparison.

      I have some little cactus that need a place in the ground--they've just been in pots so long they don't count anymore! LOL.

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  4. Thanks for sharing your successes. It's always fun to see/hear about situations that seemed unpromising turn to plant survival and recovery. My potted Meyer lemon perished this year. I'm giving up on citrus until I have a sunnier garden. The lemon always seemed to thrive during the winter, indoors, when the backyard trees were without leaves, but then my garden's offerings of sun during the summer are too limited. I have lots of plants in pots, some of which I overwinter indoors in the sunroom. I'm doing an experiment this year with Passiflora incarnata: Two plants are in pots that will overwinter indoors; two are planted outdoors next to the house. I am just north of the native range for this plant, so it will be interesting to see which of the plants survive and thrive.

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    1. Citrus do need sun. They need the sun and heat to make the fruit sweet.

      Plants in pots--too hot here for them. You sound like you get great success with them. I think gardeners in more difficult climates acquire more skill than gardeners here--we here often get away with being lazy.

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  5. That is phenomenal success with that very rare agave! I tried coring a varieg schidigera when its leaves were damaged by an unusually rainy winter -- zip results. I don't know that 'Medusa' grevillea -- very intriguing. I quickly walk past any spiral aloes for sale, so kudos to you for trying it again. Nothing hanging around to plant here, but I have lots of plants in pots waiting for the second garden/house in zone 8b/PNW coast, which doesn't seem real until the deal finally closes, maybe end of month. And it might not be a good time for planting by the time we get up there!

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    1. Lots to experiment with in 8b. Best wishes for that new gardening adventure!

      The original 'Medusa' in the garden took its time but is now flowing down a slope, a curly green river. I hope the other two will do same on a different slope soon.

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  6. An interesting way to get lots of pups. Such a beautiful agave too. What will you do with the offspring? I have a whole lot of plants to still get in the ground. Mostly perennials/biennials I started from seed but also a few things I have picked up at exchanges and garden center sales. We are expecting frost this week so they will have to wait until the weather warms up again.

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    1. it might be fun to try selling some on line to see if I can get enough to pay the July/August water bill, ha ha, it might be, they are expensive!

      If the original had flowered and died, it would be difficult to find another, so coring was worth the risk.

      I've been trying to grow more from seed--the plants vary, but it's quite interesting. The Leucospermums I grew from seed were quite a kick as they were an unexpected success.

      You are waiting for warmer weather, here we are waiting for cooler!

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  7. I treasure the Agave attenuata pup you gave me. It's almost doubled in size. It's in a pot, bright shade. I'd love to put it in the ground eventually, but it's too special a plant to risk it in my garden where rats roam freely.

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    1. The very special Agave you gave me (you know the one) is a garden treasure to me, so we're even! Happy to hear the one you have is growing and doing well. I was concerned it was not rooted enough.

      The rodents here don't bother the succulent plants--there is fruit to eat. Not sure which damage would be worse.

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    2. I wonder if should buy a cheap tomato plant to distract the rats :-)

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    3. I wonder if what they are really after is water? Try a dish of water filled at sunset--for food they should go elsewhere!

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  8. Yikes! Coring an agave sounds scary... So glad you were successful - that is one gorgeous plant...

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  9. Congrats on an experiment well done. I love the look of the trunk as well, something I usually cannot say about Agave attenuata.

    Grevillea 'Medusa' is new to me, it looks like a good one. I've got 8 plants in pots waiting to go into the ground in identified spots, and at least a dozen that I have no idea where they'll go...

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    1. The trunk has a nice curve to it. I'm not a fan of their "bare necks" either.

      There is (or was) a huge patch of 'Medusa' at the UCSC Botanic garden.

      20 plants---not many at all! :^)

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