Saturday, February 27, 2010

Variations on Agave americana

Variegated Agaves have been around for a long time. They're not the new kid on the block. But they're still very impressive - and the variations are amazing. Whether these are varieties or cultivars or whatever, it doesn't make too much difference to me. I just like them. This first one was labeled "var. striata" when we first got it's parent - at least 30 years ago.
And the next one is generally called "marginata". We have a large one we're going to plant out this summer and see if it survives our winter next year.
And finally, there's "medio-picta". Note I didn't say "medio-picta alba". We have that, but this isn't it. (We have, however, seen it being sold in a few places as "alba" when there wasn't anything "alba" about it!)

And there are more. These are only small plants of course. A. americana can get pretty big when given free root roam. Unfortunately they're only marginally hardy here, and the variegated forms tend to take even less cold (and wet). However, I've known of some really big ones which survived for many years here in Western Oregon. We shall see...

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