How many is too many? Did Imelda have too many shoes? Does
Evan have too many Bromeliads? Do I have too many Agaves? Well, in order to answer that question we need to know just how many I have right? Let's count! There are 9 in the driveway...
![]() |
| Agave weberi and friends in the driveway |
The back garden, surprisingly, has quite a few Agaves in the ground.
![]() |
| Agave bracteosa, in the back garden |
Many of them are planted in what I refer to as the Agave mounds.
![]() |
| The "newest" (2.5 years old) Agave mound, in the back garden |
But there are a few in containers.
![]() |
| Agave parryi dish planters |
All counted up there are 39 Agaves in the back garden. So we're at 48 total, thus far.
![]() |
| Parts of a couple other Agave mounds - so called because the soil is built up, to help with drainage |
And in case you're wondering I did count pups, but only if they were separated from mom and at least 3" wide. This photo has 6, the yucca looking green guy is actually A. striata Espadina form. There were a few pups here too small to count.
![]() |
| The final mound, and a Grevillea x gaudichaudii, heading into it's second winter in the ground |
It's been too wet to take the covers off the containers for over a week now.
![]() |
| Agave 'Sharkskin' - under protective cover |
They don't seem to mind though.
![]() |
| Agave ovatifolia, I built covers for just the two Agaves in containers, so they would stay dry |
Truth be told I was shocked at the count in the back garden, of course they're all on the smaller side. No monster Arizona Agaves here (sadly).
![]() |
| Agave bracteosa, planted in the ground - the silver ring is completely open at the bottom |
Okay next area to be counted, the shade pavilion...
![]() |
| In the shade pavilion greenhouse, which I really should call a dryhouse instead - since that's its real purpose |
There are 47, which brings the Agave total to 95.
![]() |
| Another look inside the dryhouse |
Time to go out to the front garden...
![]() |
| Agave americana in the front garden - yes, it really is an A. americana, stunted in our climate |
Like the back garden I was a little shocked as the number started going up, up, up...
![]() |
| At first glance you probably see 4 Agaves, but if you look close there's another visible in the upper left corner |
But there are 6 Agave parryi 'JC Raulston' alone, what was I expecting?
![]() |
| Agave parryi 'JC Raulston' |
So the front garden count = 35 (now at 130 total)
![]() |
| Agaves and ornamental cabbage...who knew? |
I really should measure this one, it's getting quite large. See the damaged leaf on the lower right? That happened with the new widows going in last spring. Everything up from there is new growth.
![]() |
| Agave ovatifolia |
Okay, the final frontier: the basement. For those of you just tuning in these are all outside in the summer, they're the ones of questionable winter hardiness who spend winter inside, where it's safe.
![]() |
| The basement gang |
The basement has 48, which means the grand total of Agaves in my possession is 178! Oh my.
![]() |
| Agave attenuata |
Well, make that 179, an Agave ocahui 'Wavy Gravy' just arrived from
Gerhard.
All material © 2009-2015 by Loree Bohl for
danger garden. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited and just plain rude.
