It's National Agave Day!

By the power vested in me, as the originator of the #agavesaremyfavorite hashtag and lover of all things agave I hereby declare July 23rd to be National Agave Day! Wherein all agaves everywhere will be celebrated. Every year on July 23rd there will be parades, purchasing of agaves and planting parties dedicated to the love of this most fabulous spiky plant. Celebrate #nationalagaveday!!! 

Well okay... maybe no parades. But we can still share our love of agaves, buy and plant them. Today I'll kick off the party by sharing a few photos of my agaves and other celebrated plants around town. 

First up, the pair of Agave ovatifolia that live to the north side of our front steps.
Agave 'Mateo' in a container, nearby. 
Agave parrasana 'Meat Claw'
To the left of the front steps is this gang, clockwise from the top: Agave 'Baccarat', A. Agave americana var. protoamericana and Agave parryi 'Notorious RBG'...
There are several Agave parryi 'JC Raulston' in the front garden, here are three...


Another Agave ovatifolia...
A mash-up of agave spikes in one of the drive-way stock-tanks.
Agave 'Kissho Kan' 
Also in the drive, Agave weberi and Agave x protamericana 'Lemon Lime'.
In the back garden there's this mash-up of agaves and friends.
And on the patio, a whole bunch of agaves in containers!

Agave 'Sharkskin' 
Agave univittata 'Splendida', a little lop-sided.
Agave ocahui 
Agave bracteosa 'Daddy Longlegs'
Agave lophantha 'Quadricolor'
Agave titanota 'Blue'
Agave ovatifolia 'Frosty Blue'
Agave 'Blue Glow' 
The table-top gang, which (agave-wise) includes an Agave schidigera 'Royal Flush' and an Agave 'Blue Glow'...
Agave ‘Burnt Burgundy’ and a coupld of NOID pups.
Okay, I think that's enough of my agaves, now for a few celebrated "agaves about town." We start with this huge blooming entry at Windcliff, Dan Hinkley's home and garden up in Indianola, Washington. I remember being blown away by the size of this plant when I saw it back in 2018 (here), but it looks even bigger now, and not just because of the tall bloom-spike. 
My friends Matthew, The Lents Farmer, and Alan, Mardi Gras Gardener, visited Windcliff last weekend and Matthew took these photos. Pretty stunning, no?
Back in Portland now, and on a whim Andrew and I took at detour home the other day and drove by this garden. I couldn't believe the large agave that bloomed back in 2019 is still standing. The plant itself is pretty much dried up (as is the bloom stalk), but there are pups taking over at it's base.
And this biggie right next to it!
Finally, remember this garden? I posted photos of their blooming Agave ovatifolia back on June 25th (here), but did a drive by last week to see how it's changed. The flowers are fully open now.
Between that June posting and now I received an email from the owner, Matthew (not the same Matthew I mentioned above), confirming that indeed it's an A. ovatifolia that's blooming and that both it, and the one across the sidewalk, were planted at the same time, in 2010.
This one hasn't decided to bloom yet though.
Why is one blooming and the other is not? Who knows. Plants are weird. But here's the cool thing. Matthew made a video of the blooming process and will be updating it throughout the summer. Check it out here. 
Now go out and celebrate National Agave Day! (and start making plans for an even bigger celebration next year...)