Tuesday, May 5, 2020

Monte, the making of a local agave celebrity

Picking back up where I left off yesterday, this is Monte, Lance Wright's Agave montana. I took this photo on September 7th, 2019.

I took this one on October 23rd, 2019. Crazy right? Just 6 weeks later and a spear has appeared.

We all wondered, what would an agave pushing out a bloomspike do as we headed into a Pacific Northwest winter? Not exactly ideal time for an agave to bloom. Well the answer is it will hit pause for a few months and then start right up again. I took this photo on April 25th, 2020.

If you look closely at the October photos you can see a string Lance tied around the stalk a few inches above the tallest leaves, see it below? Now page up and you can see the same string, in the same place. The amount of the spike above the string is how much it's grown. The string stays in basically the same spot.

Other than the fact there was a giant spear growing out of it, the base of the plant didn't really look that different.

One more October shot...

And to April, 2020.

There's just no way for this photo to not look a little cartoonish, a little Photoshopped.

The leaves look a little yellower now, which makes sense because all the energy is going into the bloom and the plant is going to die.

Ever the educator (that's a compliment) Lance hung an information sheet for those passing by who are unfamiliar with agaves and their life cycle.

Since I took these photos the flower buds have started to emerge, and the blooms are getting ready to open.

No more strange fist in the sky...


Here's 6ft 2in Andrew for scale, and he's even at street level so giving Monte an unfair advantage, note he's also protecting Monte from Covid-19 germs.

When we were there we were the only visitors. It's not that way any longer, Monte's local celebrity status has skyrocketed and throngs of people visit daily, in fact Lance is now asking that people stay away as the crowd is getting out of hand. People are stepping on plants, not observing social distancing policies and even trying to get into his private back garden...

I get it, these are exciting times for those who love plants (and agaves!) but people need to remember it's also a stressful time for us all. Nerves are on edge.

Lance's Echium wildpretii are busting out in bloom, mine is still only thinking about it.

Here's the second.

And there's Lance up on his deck.

Oh and his Grevillea x juniperina 'Pink Pearl' is still blooming. I imagine it hasn't stopped all year...

Weather Diary, May 4: Hi 71, Low 38/ Precip trace

All material © 2009-2020 by Loree Bohl for danger garden. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited and just plain rude.

22 comments:

  1. Remarkable on so many levels! While agaves do take their time blooming, I've never seen one that paused like that - but then we don't have a real winter here. The flowers are fantastic too. I've had an Agave montana in a tiny pot for years. It was supposed to be temporary but, when it stayed tiny, I left it there. Now I think I need to at least pot it up if not plant it out as is to see what'll happen - in another decade or two.

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    1. Ah...set it free, put it in your garden!

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  2. We walked over yesterday. Crowds on the street are stopping traffic, and passing cars stop for photos.

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    1. It has become quite the scene, I hope things start to calm down so Lance can enjoy his garden again.

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  3. Wow, it says a lot about how Portlanders feel about plants, when Monte has a following!

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    1. I think whenever an agave blooms where they aren't "normal" people get interested, the fact everyone is bored because of the Covid-19 restrictions is just amping up the reaction.

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  4. I don’t think I have ever seen one of these bloom in person. So I would be part of the crowd.

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    1. I edited this post several times yesterday as developments unfolded, at one point I was linking to that story, but then they were giving the exact location and things were getting crazy over there so I deleted it.

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  6. Beautiful Agave. Sad people can't enjoy it without getting stupid.

    Even here sometimes Agaves will start to ascend in autumn, wait out winter, and continue in spring. I wonder if certain species do that in native habitat as well. A feature, not a bug?

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  7. "trying to get into his private back garden..." Corona virus or not, some folks are just rude. As magnificent as that bloom is, there is a ping of sadness knowing that gorgeous Agave is coming to the end of its life. It looks so good on the parking strip. Good shot of Lance on his deck; where apparently keeping plants in nursery pots is perfectly fine. Love that.

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    1. People can be just so selfish. I took that photo of Lance on his deck the day before we Portland garden bloggers had our (modified, socially distant) spring plant swap. Some of those nursery pots came home with me that day!

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  8. Hello Loree, that's a coincidence, I was looking at the owner's blog on Sunday and marvelling at Monte. I've had more time for blogging and blogs recently for obvious reasons. The best compliment my big A. ovatifolia has had was "it looks like a machine" and I feel Monte lives up to that description! So, the $64,000 question: how long do agaves take to flower (how long is a piece of string maybe) in your experience?

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    1. I think the weather will play a role. If our May and June are cool and cloudy the flowering process will take longer than if things get hot and sunny. We've got short heatwave coming this weekend (86F high) so that should push things. I'd guess the flower will go on into July and beyond. Another agave flowered here in Portland last summer and it lasted months.

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  9. AnonymousMay 06, 2020

    The fame spreads: story in Oregonian today. Poor Lance, finding out firsthand that fame is not all it's cracked up to be.
    rickii

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  10. Thanks for sharing the photos Loree :)

    I enjoyed seeing those.

    That flower spike is pretty amazing!

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  11. Great on the street reporting! I've never seen an A. montana that big and definitely not blooming (those flowers looked incredible btw) Like mentioned above my A. montana has stayed in a pot, struggled and stayed tiny. Now I'm incentivized to get them in the ground.

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  12. All hail Monty!
    At least Lance has an army of baby agaves behind him on that deck for defense!
    Also love the color echoes in other red/lime plants- thanks for that. Briliant.

    As for the dramatic life cycle of Agave- it is one of the reasons I am so compelled by them, that they don't try to pretend they'll last forever; their finale so much like a giant candle... "but ah my foes, and oh my friends, it gives a lovely light!"

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