Monday, February 22, 2010

Agave leaves in a vase

I am always on the hunt for something suitable to bring indoors and put in a vase. Nothing is off limits. Or so I thought, I may have found the one thing I will not cut for a vase.

Last week Paradis Express did a post sharing photos from Garden Design magazine, and included the picture below. The green wall caught my eye and then I noticed that someone had chopped off a couple of agave leaves and put them in the stacked vase. Interesting.
I don't think I've seen this before, and it was a little shocking! But I suppose if you were trimming back an agave that was infringing on a pathway that would be a great use of the leaves.

Then last weekend I was thumbing through Living etc magazine...
And here it was again! Agave leaves in a vase!
Have agaves become such the "it" plant that they are even saturating the cut flower industry? Have you seen agave leaves used in this manner?

11 comments:

  1. It has always been flowers to be taken in, placed in a beautiful vase, but leaves may just give the same impact for being colourful. ~bangchik

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  2. I could see that working. We get pups shooting off our Agave americana all the time...some of these pups are spreading by long rhizomes that seem to cross over to another zip code. When they do poke their head out, that have this long skinny (no more than 1-1.25 inches in diameter) stalk that will root. You could stick one of those in that vase and get it to grow. The question I have is will the vase eventially break from the pressure of the roots...hum... Matti

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  3. I haven't noticed, but now I'll keep an eye out.

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  4. They do look very elegant. The top ones appear to be from Aagev marginata, which is basically considered a weed in much of the Caribbean.

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  5. No... I will not cut my precious Agave leave for a vase!

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  6. It appears you've spotted one of those trends, Loree, but I don't see it catching on quickly here in the PNW - we want our agaves to grow.
    I suppose you could "prune" problem agaves in hot climates and still have a viable plant, but I doubt we'll have much opportunity to test that out here!

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  7. I have two in a vase right now...both kicked off accidentally by careless visitors to our home, poor little Arizona transplant! They have lasted forever too, in a tiny bit of water, like we're talking 3 months! I just snipped the bottoms last week because they were getting goo-y

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  8. The two in the top photo look elegant and schematic (apt to entice imitation). The two in the bottom photo look poorly placed, in an inappropriate vase, and I notice "IMPERFECTION" scribbled in the background (not likely to start a trend any time soon).

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  9. Maybe this is what you do with the leaves after you drill through the center of your agave to propagate it? Here it looks like agave abuse. In areas where they grow on the side of the road without any special care, I bet it's a lot easier to justify snipping a leaf here or there.

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  10. It looks like someone stuffed a rabbit down the vases! Maybe with some other foliage it could work, but why not just plant the entire plant in an outdoor container.

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  11. Bangchik, I definitely agree that leaves are a fabulous thing to cut and put in a vase! Maybe just not these particular leaves.

    faroutflora, another zip code huh? Funny!

    K&V, oh please be sure to report any findings!

    Nicole, this weed label thrills me! I love to think that there are so many of them someplace in the world!

    Evelyn, that makes 2 of us!

    Jane, I am afraid your right...ours are far too precious.

    A+M, that's right! I forgot that you told me you stuck a couple of leaves that broke in a vase. See you are on the forefront of the trend!

    ricki, funny I thought the same thing about the big "imperfection"!

    Megan...aha! You are right. Glad to think the drilled leaves wouldn't go to waste.

    Elizabeth, yes I agree! If you need an agave leaf in your setting why not the whole plant?

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