Right before our February "week of winter" I was out walking and happened upon a garden near me with a nice little patch of opuntia and agaves—it's the first garden in this post. I've been wondering how their Agave americana var. striata (an unusual choice for our climate) did through the cold, with Andrew's help I did a drive by recently to see how it was doing. Here's the house...![]()
With it's large maple...
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And gorgeous arctostaphylos.
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The front garden has a bit of a split personality. Shady on the east side of the sidewalk, sunny on the west—the house faces south.![]()
Here's my last photo of the east side, it's a bit sun exposed and while the palm looks promising I think the strawberries days might be numbered.
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The entry screams sun, what with those potted cactus.
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And then there's this! OMG... these people have been busy! I am so impressed.
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I want to say this is an Agave macroacantha grown in such a way that it's sort of pinched and elongated. But I could be wrong, and Agave macroacantha isn't particularly hardy.
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So many excellent spikes! And that's a nice trunk on the Yucca rostrata...
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Love it when a bloom happens mid-pad. I'm sorry I missed seeing the flower.
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Okay a wide shot now where I can share what really had me excited. Do you see it!? Folks there's an ocotillo planted in the ground just 6 blocks from my home...
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Granted it's looking rather dormant, but this will be very exciting to watch! I shot off a text to Sean Hogan to ask what he thought, does it stand a chance? His reply: "just depends where it comes from.. some certainly doable"...
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... and when I asked if he'd seen any growing here successfully he responded: "I had one for a few [years] in NE [Portland], from Ponderosa pine forest in New Mexico’s Guadalupe Mtns but got shaded out. Nice blue leaves. Must get again"—so, there is hope! I will be watching.
Moving along (on my knee scooter, with a camera—I must have been quite the spectacle), there's more gravel in the drive... are they expanding the xeric plantings? Perhaps to the eastside of the sidewalk? Oh! Perhaps there's some interesting action in the back garden??![]()
On the other side of the drive...
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The tall tetrapanax...
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...are hiding a cycad.
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This is the patch of goodness I first spotted last February. It's looking great!
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The agave Agave americana var. striata looks wonderful. My plant is working on producing a pup so maybe I'll plant it out once it's large enough.
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Beautiful Agave parryi.
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Another look at that ocotillo...
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And a wider look at the whole planting before I fall back into the car and Andrew loads my 4-wheel scooter into the back...
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Oh and if you're wondering about the title of this post... Concordia is the name of our neighborhood. Andrew was having fun playing with a suitable replacement moniker since there are so many agaves popping up around us and came up with the idea of Concordia AZ (for Arizona).
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