A Nickel-siae for Your Thoughts

Our oldest clump of the amazing Agave nickelsiae (formerly A. ferdinandi-regis) is now over a decade old, so we’re probably within five years of flowering. Often confused with the similar Agave victoriae-reginae, this North American (Northern Mexico) endemic is somewhat similar, but has more leaves, darker spines, and more prominent leaf markings.

Some seedlings offset, while others, like this selection, do not, so this will die after it flowers, but not before we spread its pollen far and wide on every other flowering agave we can find. It’s still hard for us to comprehend that such an amazing plant is actually growable in our garden. Obviously, bright sun, and well-drained soils are the key. Hardiness Zone 7b-10b.

Agave nickelsiae ‘Winter Wonder’

Century Plants – it’s all about the teeth

Introducers of new century plant selections are challenged with coming up with appropriate cultivar names, often have a propensity to use wordplay, referring to the agaves spiny teeth. Two favorites, we photographed this week are below, Agave titanota ‘Snaggletooth’ (top), and Agave titanota ‘Sabertooth Tiger’ (bottom). Both are mutations of the same original plant, the later was derived from a mutation that flipped the pattern from an edge to a center. Agave titanota is prized as a summer patio container plant due to its relatively slow growth rate. Plants must be stored indoors for the winter when the temperature drop below 40 degrees F.

Agave titanota ‘Snaggletooth’
Agave titanota ‘Sabertooth Tiger’

Klein’s Cylinder Pencil Cactus

I can’t remember when I first met Cylindropuntia kleiniae, but it was somewhere back in my early years, during a family cross country drive, designed to expose us kids to the entirety of the US. I fell in love with cactus, despite being repeatedly stabbed as I tried to rescue a pad to take home.

Since that time, I’ve encountered this native of Texas, New Mexico, and into Mexico more times than I care to remember. This hardy pencil cactus is the Charlie Brown’s Christmas tree of cacti…kinda homely, but loveable in a motherly sort of way. In the garden, it forms an open 6′ specimen.

Desert-dwelling Amphibians

It’s fascinating to see how many amphibians in the garden are drawn to agave leaves. We find more amphibians resting on agaves than any other plant in the garden. Here is our latest image capture of our native green tree frog, Hyla cinerea.

Cat Whiskers Cactus

Our planting of Glandulicactus wrightii is looking quite lovely as we head into fall. Sadly, few folks take time to closely examine the fascinating and intricate arrangements of cactus spines. Glandulicactus wrightii, which is native to Texas and adjacent Mexico has amazingly long, hooked spines that resemble cat whiskers. Long term winter hardiness is hopeful here in Zone 7b, since the seed from which this was grown came from a population at 5,000′ elevation on the New Mexico/Texas border.

Glandulicactus wrightii in the crevice garden
Glandulicactus wrightii

Horrid Asparagus

I’ve heard asparagus called lot of things, especially by young kids, but here’s one that really lives up to the name, Asparagus horridus. The large spines on this subshrub do a great job protecting the fruit from predators. We’ve long sought to collect as many asparagus species as can be grown in our climate and this is a collection from Majorca, Spain, thanks to the late plant explorer, Alan Galloway. Two years in the ground and so far, so good.

Asparagus horridus