Another Agave Flowering

[iwan]

I think the above average rain last year has triggered some of my Agave to bloom.  Last year it was one of my dwarfs, this year it is Agave parryi and last night I noticed that my Agave weberi was also flowering.  This is one of my favorite species.  It has a great architectural form and no marginal spines.

 

[Josue Diaz]

I love weberi! Wonderful plant. I have several myself, and a beautiful variegated one. I have two mangave that are blooming. I'm going to attempt to cross pollinate them with agave desmettiana and agave sharkskin to see what comes of it. A weberi cross would be interesting also...

[iwan]

At least one of my Mangave are blooming also.  I have a feeling that both of my Agave inflorescences will be way to tall to hand pollinate.  I might get one or two more terrestrial flowers off of the parryi that I could experiment with. 

What I believe is a blue/purple form of Agave striata flowers every fall, but the fruits are always frozen off.  I thought this year I would actually get mature fruit, until the February freeze.  I have not tried to collect pollen since nothing else is blooming in November.

[GottmitAlex]

Beautiful. Tell me, after an agave blooms, it's curtains for it right?

 

[iwan]

11 hours ago, GottmitAlex said:

Beautiful. Tell me, after an agave blooms, it's curtains for it right?

 

For most Agave that is correct for the mother plant.  Depending on the species, offsets will occur, and seeds or bulbils from the inflorescence.  My Agave striata (?) blooms every year however.  It behaves more like a Yucca than an Agave.

[iwan]

Some progress pictures.  4/17

 

 

4/22

 

How many palms can you identify in this picture?  Bonus points for naming them.

[TexasColdHardyPalms]

13 hours ago, iwan said:

Some progress pictures.  4/17

 

How many palms can you identify in this picture?  Bonus points for naming them.

Ill take some bonus points. Looks like two jubaea on the left, butia center background and a butia or buju hybrid on the right. 

[Silas_Sancona]

I'll also toss my hat in.. No bonus points necessary 

Aside from the palms: Bluish Prickly Pear to the lower right = Opuntia macrocentra "Santa Rita" though not 100% sure (there are a couple other blue colored sp.)  Further to the right, Ocotillo (Fouquieria splendens) Might be the first I have seen pictured in a landscape anywhere in CA, north of the Deserts. 

Further off in the distance, Varigated Agave americana and ..maybe Brahea sp. to it's right (by the fence line).. Top of, possibly Agave "Blue Glow", visible  just below where the silver palm on the right hand edge of the picture is.

[iwan]

Keep playing.  There is a lot of layers in this picture.  Someone may get the palm count, but I doubt anyone can get all of the palm bonus points.  There are only pieces of several palms in the picture.

[TexasColdHardyPalms]

Part of my first post was cut off.  I pointed out an Armata or Clara on the far right.  Are you not giving out any confirmations of bonus points?

[TexasColdHardyPalms]

I enlarged the picture on my desktop and spotted more palms.  Looks like a Brahea edulis or washingtonia center behind Jubaea.  An armata or clara center behind the agave and a green med fan in front of that center Butia.  Also looks like there may be a silver med in the shadow on the right in front of that brahea?

[iwan]

Joseph,

I will enlarge the original picture and see what is visible vs what I know is there, but may be hidden.  You have a few hits so far.  I will not nit pick on the hybrids.  There is not enough detail to identify most them. 

Nathan,

I didn't even think about a succulent quiz.  There is a lot of small stuff packed/hidden in there or covered in weeds (unfortunately).  I have four Fouquiera and this is the only one that is doing well.  It survived our almost 200% of normal rain fall in 2016/17.  The other other three were purchased bare root from another source, and have not successfully rooted.  Most still have green in the "seams" but show no sign of leafing out.  One stump rotted and I am trying to root the remaining sections in pure pumice.  Another blew over in the wind and is now staked.

Edited April 28, 2018 by iwan

[iwan]

Here are the succulent answers.  There are some others in there that I cannot even identify (just from the picture) and a lot that is hidden.  Opuntia 'Santa Rita' and Fouquieria were correctly identified, plus Agave americana at the bottom right.  I love 'Santa Rita' when it is drought stressed.  I have never bothered to identify the Opuntia sp.? in the picture.  I call it elephant ears due to the big, wavy pads.  It falls apart easily with wind and moderate winter rain.  Will have to look for a picture of it.  I am sure it is common.

Agave utahensis ssp kaibabensis does not grow well for me in the ground.

[Silas_Sancona]

Robert,
 I just saw the total sum of everything in the picture and figured id let others, especially our more palm-savy members, chime in before putting in my 2 cents on any other cool stuff in view. Perhaps "name everything in the picture quizzes" might be something that catches on.  

As far as Ocotillo, your experience sounds quite familiar. Years ago id taken a couple cuttings off a plant at a rest stop in W. TX  while on my way back to San Jose from Florida. While they lived for a couple years, they eventually dried out and barely had any roots when I examined them.
 
Even here, with much more heat, the %'age of bare rooted specimens you can find shriveling up at the BBX stores are more inclined to fail than root in/ succeed. There's actually a growing movement among some of the better growers locally and in Tucson to only sell plants grown from seed which successfully transplant at a far higher rate.

The viewable difference when looking at a seed grown Ocotillo in a 24' pot/box, sitting next to a bare rooted specimen in the same sized container is pretty obvious, especially when they should all be leafing out. Even in a 5gal pot, the seed grown plant looks way healthier and doesn't sway in the pot when you give it a gentle nudge to see how firmly it has rooted in.  Id bet if seed grown specimens were more available, especially there in CA, you might see more of them in landscapes. Good to know the healthy one handled last years wet winter there. 

[iwan]

The Ocotillo in the picture has been in the ground since 2012.  It primary gets rain water and maybe taps off of moisture from a nearby palm.  It is mostly barren twigs for ten months of the year unless I give it some summer water (which I probably should).  My other three came from HD in Barstow.  Thanks for the info on the seed grown plants, I will look for them in the future.  I have a trip to Flagstaff planned for next summer.  IF I drive, I may load up the truck if I can find properly permitted/tagged plants. 

I will ID the palms probably after the weekend if nobody else chimes in.