Agave Victoria Reginae

[XYZ]

2 hours ago, LJG said:

...I would never pay more than $50 (about price for most other variegated VR) for a plant. Higher pricing seen on eBay is for suckers or those living in the past. 

Why USD 50? If they are going to be commonplace soon, why not USD 10? You’d be a ”sucker” to pay more, no? 

Tray of four inch KB at a well-known Scottsdale, Arizona C&S nursery this afternoon. Not my cup of tea when they look like this, but they are very popular plants.

Since effortless to grow and propagate, commonplace things like albovariegated Agave ‘Blue Glow’ still sell readily to ”suckers” for USD 200 or more at 14” diameter retail, I’ll wager on large WR being high end plants for some years to come.

Seriously...plant values are subjective things. Calling people suckers or backward for disagreeing with your worldview seems unecessarily provocative and rather elitist. While I am also sometimes surprised at prices paid by hard core plant collectors (cycad buffs come immediately to mind), I don’t begrudge anyone their indulgences with regard to plant whims.

J

[LJG]

14 hours ago, stone jaguar said:

Why USD 50? If they are going to be commonplace soon, why not USD 10? You’d be a ”sucker” to pay more, no? 

Tray of four inch KB at a well-known Scottsdale, Arizona C&S nursery this afternoon. Not my cup of tea when they look like this, but they are very popular plants.

Since effortless to grow and propagate, commonplace things like albovariegated Agave ‘Blue Glow’ still sell readily to ”suckers” for USD 200 or more at 14” diameter retail, I’ll wager on large WR being high end plants for some years to come.

Seriously...plant values are subjective things. Calling people suckers or backward for disagreeing with your worldview seems unecessarily provocative and rather elitist. While I am also sometimes surprised at prices paid by hard core plant collectors (cycad buffs come immediately to mind), I don’t begrudge anyone their indulgences with regard to plant whims.

J

$50 is about the average for most other variegated VR plants and the market will soon settle around there for this too. You, yourself just posted how you found it “humorous” this plant is being offered by one seller on eBay for $10,000. Yes, you are a sucker if you pay that. But if I were to use your logic, isn’t it rather rude to find a sellers price “humorous” because it disagrees with your worldview? Maybe bordering on “elitists” to laugh? Heck, you even said someone’s shipping prices were “offputting”. Just saying...

Not an insult, honest question, but are you new to collecting these agaves? I only ask because you would have witnessed the price drop of many other of these variegated VR from when they first came out and now. This plant in question can sucker profusely and is heavily TCed, so you can already find longtime sellers of this plant cutting prices a lot. So I highly doubt the price stays high like you think. But that’s just my opinion.

The price you pay for sunglows or snowglows (the commercial name for albovariegated Agave ‘Blue Glow’) is pretty high. But it raises a good point. You live in the Bay Area and don’t have access to the amazing amount of nurseries we have here in SoCal. Sun and snowglows are a fraction of that $200 you paid. 

Because the word “sucker” hurt your feelings, I apologize. I have been in that category myself many times and will be again as I am an avid plant collector that has overpaid. I have even overpaid for agaves too and been called a sucker by many of my friends. Didn’t hurt my feelings as in the end, many times it was true. I know more than most about satisfying plant indulgences. Instead of using the word sucker, I will replace with caveat emptor. Mea culpa?

[XYZ]

I suppose that the apology - since offered - is to the audience it addressed.

None of your suppositions apply to me, but thanks anyways. Comparing the wording of my observations to calling out collectors as “suckers” is quite the strech, but I’ll cede the point for diplomacy.

FYI, small WR in the Bay Area were 50 bucks for ages until the demand picked up in early 2016. There is quite of lot of walk in trade from plant collecting tourists from Taiwan, Japan and the PRC to a couple well known nurseries in the Bay Area. WR is of great interest to this market. Snow Glows (? I am not at all certain that all albovariegated sports of BG are descendants of a single clone) at 10-12” can be had for 65 bucks here retail. My observation as to a current high end retail level for these is based on plants I saw for sale this week in Phoenix (USD 225 - please see below)...nursery owner told me they usually sell out within weeks of arrival from the Tucson wholesale C&S nursery who grows them on (presumably Bach’s). If you are unfamiliar with the Greater Phoenix/VOTS and Tucson xeriscaping market, you may be unaware just how huge the demand for high-end succulents is there. Ditto parts of Texas.

You are correct that I don’t shop at succulent nurseries in SoCal other than wholesale at RSN. Little to interest me that I don’t already grow, or can obtain elsewhere with accession data.

Peace,

J