Friday, November 24, 2006

Hedgehog Agave (Agave stricta)




Hedgehog Agave
Agave stricta
(a-GAH-vee) (STRIK-tuh)

This picture was taken at a friend’s greenhouse. He just got this plant and it is quite handsome. It grows in the wilds of Central Mexico and gradually spreads with rosettes, forming a patch. That is not going to happen in the greenhouse as it is in an 8-inch pot. It sure does have a ‘sharp’ look about it. The slender leaves all form a sharp black point. One thing I like about the Agaves I have seen is they seem to grow with kind of a symmetrical habit. I will have to see if the six-foot flower stalks will emerge from this one. He will have to support it somehow as it could never stand up in its present pot. I think flowering for most Agaves end the plants life, which makes it monocarpic.

We got several inches of rain here yesterday. It seems like today is going to be nice, so maybe I will get the camera out. It is getting harder and harder to find flowers to shoot. There are a few odd mums left and I saw some other flowers at work including Potentilla, Mello Yellow Spirea and some Dianthus. They just seem to be sporadic flowers that a freeze will surely cut down.

(Synonyms: Agave striata)

No comments: