Wednesday, March 29, 2023

Another one bites the dust...

A few weeks ago I posted a video on Instagram (here) of me pulling the center from my huge Agave weberi, it was completely rotted out. The soundtrack to the video was Queen's 1980 hit Another One Bite's the Dust—it seemed apropos. Well, que the band cause here we go again...

This is a photo from last summer, the agave with only months to live is the one with the white arrow over it, Agave 'Sharkskin'... 

Here it is during the late December storm, under the green arrow. We covered it earlier in the fall, to keep it dry. It's been sitting in that spot, in that pot, for years—I bought it in 2015. 

Peeking under the cover I could see some lower leaves weren't looking good, so I decided it was time to remove the cover and clean them up. Surprise!

It wasn't just the lower leaves that weren't doing well.

That's another large agave to add too my death list, I'm at 5 large (old) agaves now, and countless small ones. A reminder the ribbed container here used to hold Mr. Big, an Agave americana variegata.

What else is lurking under the covers?

Agave parryi, rotten.

Another, also rotten.

The Agave bracteosa remains solid (yay!). The small brown one at the back was a variegated Agave americana pup.

The A. parryis just lifted right up off the ground, one remained semi-intact even as I dropped it into the bin. 

So now it was time to be brave and take a close look at the big Agave ovatifolia in the container. I won't lie, I was very apprehensive as I peeled back that plastic. What would I discover?

It was solid! Thank god.

What the heck, I decided to check under the other two bamboo and plastic tunnels. These have been in place since sometime in early November, I cover them because a dry succulent is much better able to cope with cold. All the Agave bracteosa here look good, as does the Agave 'Mateo'. The Aloe striatula (Aloiampelos striatula) also look good.

These cute little NOID agaves are goners, ditto for the pinecone cactus behind them. 

I forget exactly which agave this was, obviously it's now mush.

Interesting. I guess not all of the Aloe striatula are happy. I have several different versions of this plant growing here, including a few seed grown plants from a friend. I wish I remembered which was which.

Happy Aloe striatula...

This opuntia (I think it might be 'Santa Rita', based on the color) came from my brother's place in Phoenix (2018). Honestly I was surprised it made it this long...

Under the other tunnel...

Agave montana

This one was labeled Agave parviflora but there was a general consensus among those of us who bought one (Home Depot was selling them a couple of years ago) that name wasn't right. I can't remember what it really was, and now it doesn't matter.

Agave americana var. protoamericana I think (came to me with mixed up labeling).

To the driveway now. The black pot was home to the Agave weberi I mentioned at the top of this post. The plant in the galvanized bin is an Agave americana, it was in the garage during the cold periods—it's a detached, unheated, unfinished space, but it was enough to keep this guy alive.

There were agaves here. Both of these metal pots had big agaves in them, I knew it wasn't the best place to plant them (thin metal not offering much protection against the elements) but took the risk and enjoyed them while they lasted. (the yellow leaves belong to a yucca that used to grow in the container and is making a comeback)

Not pretty, but still solid.

This is interesting, another Agave 'Sharkskin', but this one in the ground and it's solid. It received zero protection all winter. Nothing! I was treating it as an experiment since I had my other bigger/better plant in the container. Ha, you can see how that turned out. This one's not looking so great, but hopefully once we get some warm sunny days it will start to flush out with new growth. (The stump behind it is a cotinus I'm planning to remove)

This Agave 'Mateo' is in a container (hard to see but it's a thick cement pot covered with tiny rocks). I've been watching and worrying (since I've lost 5 others in containers) but so far it's okay. The small one on the right is an Agave x leopoldii in a container, it was in the shade pavilion greenhouse when the weather was nasty.

Let's wrap up this post with a look at the two big Agave ovatifolia 'Frosty Blue' by our front door.

This is the plant furthest from the steps, on the right in the above photo. It's still doing great. I am thrilled! Oh, the Euphorbia rigida are all flattened because of the foot of snow that fell on them last month. They didn't lose their blooms, but they did lose their upright posture.

Here's the center of the agave that has been "ailing" for awhile now, the one closest to the door.

I cut out a bad leaf a few weeks back, that's the brown stuff at the bottom. The other spots are getting bigger with each passing day—each COLD AND WET passing day—I pray we warm up soon and maybe this one will be okay, after all the center is still solid. 

There are many other agaves in the ground in my garden that are doing fine, either with no damage or minor damage. I don't want to jinx them by doing a "winners" post right away, but once we turn the corner and we're at least out of the 30's at night and reliably into the 60's during the day (that's really not too much to ask for!) then I'll do a happy agave post.

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28 comments:

  1. This is heart-breaking to see. But it's no different in my garden. I tossed a decent-size variegated Agave ovatifolia in the yard waste just this weekend. Plus Agave nickelsiae, Mangave 'Man of Steel', Mangave 'Red Wing', and who knows what else. This has been a BRUTAL winter.

    I've lost three ovatifolias to winter rot now (one this year, two in 2017, which was also exceedingly wet). And everybody always says that ovatifolia can take more winter wet than most other agaves! Ha!

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    1. P.S. That mystery "parviflora" from Home Depot is actually Agave x leopoldii. If you'd like a replacement, let me know. I have a bunch of offsets from mine.

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    2. I almost went with Agave x leopoldii as the ID but then started to doubt myself. Thank you for the offer—I actually bought another pot at HD, this one with several smaller plants, so I'm set. Sorry to hear of your losses, especially the variegated ovatifolia. Despite the issues I am having with the one plant I still feel that it's the best choice for my climate (cool wet winters). I've got several doing great and I see many of them around town doing fabulously too.

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  2. Jeanne DeBenedetti KeyesMarch 29, 2023

    Yes! I cued the song as soon as I saw the words. LOL. OMG, so much agave death. My A. sharkskin is just a baby but it looks like yours, the one in the ground. One leaf dead, middle solid! Let's hope for the 'Sharkskins'. Looking like A. ovatifolia 'Vanzie' is not going to make it. Lots of new mushy spots. Keeping an eye on it. Interesting that your two A. ovatafolia, near your front porch, are in such different conditions. I would have thought the front porch would have offered some protection? Hoping we have turned the corner for cold, wet weather. Looking forward to a 'winners' post.

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    1. Sorry to hear that you too are dealing with mushy agaves too. From your comment on Mary DeNoyer's FB post it sounds like your whole garden was hit pretty hard?

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    2. Jeanne DeBenedetti KeyesMarch 31, 2023

      Yes, I have more spots of rot on my A. ovatafolia 'Vanzie'. The center leaves/column appear to be solid though, so hoping it pulls through. I did have some damaged leaves on some of the pyrrosia lingua plants but I think they will be all right too. Actually, I only had breakage on a couple of large camellias. Glad that there was no breakage on any of the Arctostaphylos. I only had 8 inches of snow. I am wondering if some of the damage was due to the cold, East winds. I don't think either of my edgeworthias are going to bloom. The buds are tiny, almost dead looking. The plants are alive though. Many of the foliage plants, like the epimediums all look sad. I was surprised that the scheffleras ( Schefflera delavayi and Schefflera alpina) came through like champs. No leaf damage yet. So, a mixed bag of stuff that should have been fine and isn't and others I expected to see damage and so far no damage.

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    3. Your last sentence sums it up Jeanne, so random! Sorry about your edgeworthia blooms. My yellow-bloomer was in the process of opening the flowers when one of the rounds of extremes hit, most of the blooms just kind of stopped there and slowly lost their color and fragrance. Such sad timing.

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  3. Indeed, very heart breaking, Loree. And you know what you are doing! It's the damned weather! A big series of too many bad, wet, cold events right over your neighborhood.

    My Agave bracteosa looks terrible and it has weathered all manner of storms for years. My A. parryi truncata (Oscar) still has damaged leaves and his cousins close by are not looking so good. It seems hit or miss as to which ones perish, as you point out. It sucks. No two ways about it and my heart breaks for you. Nothing you could have done save from building a bio dome over your whole garden.

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    1. Oh no! Your the first one that's mentioned Agave bracteosa damage. About that bio-dome, I keep asking Andrew to come up with something but so far, nothing... ;)

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  4. Ugh! I'm sorry, Loree. I've been concerned even about the amount of soil moisture my agaves have had this year - I can only imagine how much precipitation you've received, or how your colder temperatures complicate matters.

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    1. The cold spells (and ongoing cold, we're still in the mid 30's at night) definitely amp up the damage potential from the wet. Our soils are saturated.

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  5. Not the Sharkskin! Sincere condolences on these losses. I'm hoping to get to the zone 10 garden in April and fear there's a lot of mushed-out plants awaiting me too. So cool that 'Mateo' is holding on for you. I need to get some proper shelves set up for agaves in pots under the patio and up against the zone 8 house wall...

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    1. Fingers crossed you are greeted by lots of happy surprises in the Long Beach garden!

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  6. Tough winter--sorry to see that. Hurts to lose so many.

    Plant shopping is known to be good therapy. ;^)

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    1. And the annual HPSO Hortlandia is coming up next Friday...

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  7. Oh no! Sorry about your losses Loree - glad to see the large A. ovatifolia under cover still looks good - what a handsome plant that is. Fingers crossed no more damage to come 🤞

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    1. Thank you Horticat. I keep hearing that we're about to turn the corner and finally warm up. It can't come too soon...

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  8. What a nightmare for you. Hard to know what to do in terms of replacing plants with all the changes we're experiencing due to climate change. Wisconsin has two species of cactus in the genus Opuntia: O. fragilis (Brittle Prickly Pear) and O. macrorhiza (Plains Prickly Pear). They can take a lot of cold and snow so they might be cacti options for you. Not as showy as many cacti but still pretty nice.

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    1. Thanks for the names, I will look into them!

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  9. Not sure why, but I always fancied Agave 'Sharkskin'. The surviving one in the ground is a puzzlement of nature. I do hope it grows out of it's winter-blemish phase soon.
    The devastation elsewhere, especially in the bamboo tunnels, is heart breaking.
    Chavli

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    1. Sharkskin is so different from other agaves, it's arms so short and solid, the unique color and feel—it's a good one.

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  10. This damned winter! I hope your frosty blue makes it through, you are so close to warming up a bit. I felt like I found something new rotted every morning. I really like your bamboo tunnels, I need to configure something similar in the future.

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    1. Those tunnels are fabulous. Of course there are many materials that would work, my husband just had fun working with the bamboo.

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  11. I have seen Frosty Blues in my neighborhood hanging tough. Hoping your ailing one pulls through. Having agaves here require a philosophical (fatalistic) gardener’s mind. My striatula is totally top dead, hoping it comes back from the roots. One rare plant I have is a goner, plectruanthus ecklonii. Didn’t survive In detached garage. Incredibly, my leucadendron “Red Gem” is alive. Didn’t think it would survivor back porch in a container. Hope you see new growth and more survivors. Jim N Tabor.

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    1. Sorry about the Plectruanthus ecklonii, but wow, great news for the leucadendron! Fingers crossed for your aloe.

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  12. Sorry for 😞your losses, but in my Sacramento garden I have lost 😡 quite a number of aloes & agaves. On the bright side I am anxious to try some new varieties!! Hopefully next winter a bit less wet!!

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  13. Portlant weather has been brutal this year, so sorry,Lorri, ...well opportunities not losses. Here in the Corvallis "banana belt".. not so bad. All in ground plants came through ok ..not all undercover but outside agave made it through. All the work of moving pots inside in fall has paid off. Still await those higher temps. Looking forward to pup exchanges from my garden community.

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  14. Well, definitely not feeling so bad that my A. parryi J.C Raulston and A. bracteosa both bit the dust. I want to try both again this summer. El Nino is on his way. Just had a Yucca linearifolia rot out too, so it has definitely been a tough winter.

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