Tuesday, August 16, 2016

Look up there, in the sky! (at Lotusland)

During our first visit to Lotusland (2009) we somehow skirted the border of Agave franzosinii and A. americana at the Blue Garden entrance. I'd made a mental note to pay more attention this time. Here they are seen from behind, as we left the Bromeliad Garden...

Not that I could have ignored those towering bloom spikes! OMG!

Just how tall are they? Well that there hunk-o-husband is 6ft 2in tall.

The plants themselves are car-sized.

But add in the blooms and they become sky-scrapers..

I guess this is why my in-laws wanted to make sure no more Agaves bloomed and died on their property. This would be like a tree falling on your house!

Here's one of the blooming plants starting to shrivel and lose it's lease on life.

We were amazed at the hummingbirds. They were in heaven, darting here and there. Dozens! Here I managed to capture two of them at work.

*sigh*

Looking south-ish (I think)

And north-ish, towards the house.

The Agave blooms weren't the only thing up in the sky, these odd hanging planters were also worth looking up to see.

Sedum morganianum topped with a protective cone (protection against birds? squirrels?) and a dash of Tillandsia usneoides...

There's no denying they're a little odd.

And a lot fabulous.

Of course they were also a bit of the inspiration behind my Bromeliad Dish...

Such crazy things!

Time to move on, there is so much more to explore...

Here you can make out the shapes of the Blue Atlas Cedar, just beyond the Agaves. They play a significant role in the renovation of the Blue Garden but for some reason I didn't snap a single photo.

Must have been blinded by the Agaves...

All material © 2009-2016 by Loree Bohl for danger garden. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited and just plain rude.

22 comments:

  1. Hanging planters - protection from the sun? Whatever, they are fab and remind me of jelly fish. Love the idea! Oh those huge agave blooms, sigh. I wonder what's going to happen when your two A.ovatifolia close to your front door bloom. Will they come crashing down on your roof?

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    1. No the A. ovatifolia are sort of angled out, away from the house. They'll wipe out the garden in front of them, and land on the sidewalk. That is if we don't take precautions to shore them up, which we will do.

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  2. Love it. Your photo of the flower stalks towering above Andrew is priceless!

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  3. Those Agaves are amazing. Love these shots.
    Here's my crazy brain at work: those cool sedum planters need to be mirrored below with matching saucer planters containing some tight, columnar cactus mirroring the shape of its hanging partner. Organic Stalactites and stalagmites......

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    1. Oh yeah... that would be great fun, Tim!

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    2. Holy Crap... those Agave blooms are incredible! And the Sedum morganianum are the healthiest I have ever seen, definitely a Halloween vision with the cne becoming a witch's hat with the dripping Tillandsia usneoides. Serious fun!

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    3. Tim - you crack me up.

      Sheila - I thought witch's hat too!

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  4. Those agaves look so otherworldly! Come to that, so do the hanging planters. I like the echo of form between the agave blooms and a tree that shows up in the background several times, especially in the 6th photo.

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    1. Me too, I took so many photos of that scene!

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  5. Protection from squirrels, most definitely. Bloom stalks on Agaves really aren't a big deal, they're easily cut before they rot/fall, and can be induced by rope and location of cut to fall where wanted. I may regret all the Agave franzosinii I've planted these past 10 years, but so far the biggest are only 5 feet tall by across, and already given plentiful pups for planting elsewhere. Their luminous white foliage is great for night time effects.

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    1. Ya that's exactly how I would treat the bloomstalk, but my father in-law wasn't getting around so good when they made the decision to get rid of them all. So sad...

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  6. The best place for big blooming agaves is with plenty of space. For years I watched for a bloom on a neighbor's agave and then they had to cut it down early as it leaned out over the road.

    Nice inspiration in those curious planters. That sedum stays put nicely, mine get heavy and drop off as soon as they run over the edge of the planter. The pieces root on the ground below so it works out well.

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    1. Oh my! Now you've got me picturing a pool of Sedum morganianum under a hanging planter...could be kind of cool!

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  7. Absolutely amazing! For a minute I thought maybe those were agave sculptures in the first photo.

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    1. Their amazing color does make them look like they're not real!

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  8. Those agaves are impressive. A little scary - but impressive!

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  9. I think you are suffering from Agave Tunnel Vision, the reason you didn't take any pictures of the Atlas Cedar. LOL! But then you are the Danger Garden, not the Conifer Garden. Great pictures of a beautiful garden!
    John(Aberdeen)

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    1. Lord knows that happens...more than I'd like to admit to. The thing is though that of all the confers in the world Blue Atlas Cedar is in my top 5. I should have done better.

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  10. Are those blooms on the tips of the burro's tail sedum? I've never seen them do that...but then your blog is all about surprises.

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    1. Or dried up blooms at least...if they had been at a level I could have gotten a good photo you know I would have.

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