{"id":3905,"date":"2015-02-25T09:49:49","date_gmt":"2015-02-25T17:49:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogadmin.plantlust.com\/blog\/?p=3905"},"modified":"2024-01-24T06:19:12","modified_gmt":"2024-01-24T14:19:12","slug":"the-roots-spikes-of-my-obsession","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/plantlust.com\/blog\/gardens\/the-roots-spikes-of-my-obsession\/","title":{"rendered":"The roots (spikes) of my obsession"},"content":{"rendered":"

A few years ago, at a party for \u201cplant people,\u201d I was introduced to a friend\u2019s new beau. His first question, \u201cfavorite genus?\u201d I didn\u2019t hesitate, not even for a second, before answering\u2026agave!<\/p>\n

As I may have written here previously, my being a part of this plant lust endeavor can be traced back to a love for agaves and my personal blog, danger garden<\/a>. My business partner Megan and I met because we read each other\u2019s blogs, and we wrote about our passion for agaves, a lot. Of course being two introverts it took our third partner, Patricia, to actually get us talking, in \u201creal-life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Recently we enjoyed lunch with friend-of-plant-lust Derek Powazek<\/a>. Having escaped the big city (San Francisco), Derek seems to be adjusting to life in Oregon just fine. I won\u2019t share too many details but he\u2019s only been here a few months and has already bought a home, built raised beds and started a vegetable garden.\u00a0 There\u2019s talk of chickens. He did admit there\u2019s one thing he\u2019s missing\u2026<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Strybing<\/a><\/p>\n

In his previous life Derek volunteered at Strybing Arboretum<\/a> in Golden Gate Park (pictured above). If you haven\u2019t been, there are lots big, beautiful, agaves. In fact all around the Bay Area you\u2019ll see them punctuating home gardens and gracing public plantings. Derek asked for a list of species which can be expected to grow well here, in the Portland area. If he’s wondering there must be others, right? I\u2019m always ready to help spread the agave love!<\/p>\n

Since these particular agaves grow well in my USDA Zone 8, winter wet, summer dry, garden I figure chances are they might be successful in other places as well. Places where one doesn\u2019t see agaves typically growing. Here\u2019s the thing, this is only my experience, and yours may vary. At planting I build up the soil (using small rocks and chicken grit, mixed with native soil) so the agave sits higher than the surrounding area, improving the drainage and encouraging rain water to run freely away. The agave is also tilted slightly, to keep water from pooling in the crown. So, without further ado, here\u2019s my list of success stories\u2026<\/p>\n

Agave ovatifolia ‘Frosty Blue’<\/a>…
\n\"Agave<\/a><\/p>\n

Current count in my garden stands at five, four in the ground and one\u00a0in a container. This graceful agave can eventually reach 6-8 feet tall and wide, I doubt that will happen here though, which is fine. They powered through last winter with it’s low of 12F and a period with both day and night time temperatures below freezing. Then again it’s not the cold so much as winter-wet that dooms\u00a0ill-planted agaves to death.<\/p>\n

Agave bracteosa<\/a>…
\n\"Agave<\/a><\/p>\n

Sorry, that photo is a little confusing. There are a three\u00a0Agave bracteosa<\/a>\u00a0shown, one at the very front\/bottom and another at the back, just in front of the orange blooming\u00a0Anigozanthos<\/a> (Kangaroo Paw). Just for good measure there’s another in the photo below.<\/p>\n

Agave ‘Mateo’<\/a>…
\n\"Agave<\/a><\/p>\n

That’s Agave ‘Mateo’<\/a>\u00a0with the faint\u00a0lighter-green stripe down the middle of the leaf. A. ‘Mateo’<\/a>\u00a0was discovered as a seedling in a patch of Agave bracteosa, it’s suspected that the other parent might be\u00a0Agave lophantha. I bought a large plant that came with a few small pups, which I put in the ground. My feeling was I had nothing to lose and since\u00a0Agave bracteosa has proven hardy here maybe…?\u00a0Indeed they’re doing fine. Now I’m considering planting the mama plant in the ground too (it has been in a container).<\/p>\n

Agave gracilipes<\/a>…
\n\"Agave<\/a><\/p>\n

This one is a fairly new experiment and has only been in the ground just a year. I think it has great potential though as the plants are fairly small and showing absolutely no winter damage (the larger the plant, the better the success rate, in my experience). Typically after winter most\u00a0of my agaves have a few soggy lower leaves or leaves with blemishes which I cut away, summer growth quickly pushes out new leaves and the plant looks fabulous again in no time.<\/p>\n

Agave parryi ‘J.C. Raulston’<\/a>…
\n\"Agave<\/a><\/p>\n

Most Agave parryi<\/a> do pretty well here but ‘J.C. Raulston’<\/a>\u00a0is special, in that it rarely has any damage at all. I’ve managed to accumulate five of them (plus pups) and wouldn’t hesitate to add another (or twelve).<\/p>\n

Agave neomexicana<\/a>…
\n\"Agave<\/a><\/p>\n

It’s the blue agave on the far right (above). I’ve got several of this no-nonsense agave,\u00a0Cistus Nursery<\/a> describes it best: “A tough-as-nails species, closely related to A. parryi but with narrower, deep blue leaves held upright and out and adorned with gray marginal spines and long, terminal brownish red spines”<\/p>\n

Honorable mention: Agave \u2018Silver Surfer\u2019<\/a>…
\n\"Agave<\/a><\/p>\n

Honorable mention simply because I haven’t grown it in my garden but have watched it in the garden above (2014 tour here<\/a> and here<\/a>) and it’s done fabulously.<\/p>\n

So that\u2019s my list, I\u2019m sure others would add (or subtract) a few. Please join the conversation and share your experience. Also it\u2019s worth noting that I am a mere mortal and didn\u2019t hit the jackpot of agave growing conditions, the tall rock wall. If you\u2019ve got one of those you can have plants of epic proportions, like the one I shared in this post<\/a>. And because I never really know when to stop here are a few other complementary plant suggestions to complete the Oregon “desert” garden\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A few years ago, at a party for \u201cplant people,\u201d I was introduced to a friend\u2019s new beau. His first question, \u201cfavorite genus?\u201d I didn\u2019t hesitate, not even for a second, before answering\u2026agave! As I may have written here previously, my being a part of this plant lust endeavor can be traced back to a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":3908,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[42,47],"tags":[48,1738,1025,1798,1464,1800,993,708,1799,629,387],"yoast_head":"\nThe roots (spikes) of my obsession - Plant Lust<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A few years ago, at a party for \u201cplant people,\u201d I was introduced to a friend\u2019s new beau. His first question, \u201cfavorite genus?\u201d I didn\u2019t hesitate, not even\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/plantlust.com\/blog\/gardens\/the-roots-spikes-of-my-obsession\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The roots (spikes) of my obsession - Plant Lust\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A few years ago, at a party for \u201cplant people,\u201d I was introduced to a friend\u2019s new beau. His first question, \u201cfavorite genus?\u201d I didn\u2019t hesitate, not even\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/plantlust.com\/blog\/gardens\/the-roots-spikes-of-my-obsession\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Plant Lust\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/plantlust\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-02-25T17:49:49+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-01-24T14:19:12+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/d17vsf20mehj1i.cloudfront.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/01154812\/Feature-image.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"608\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Team Plant Lust\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Team Plant Lust\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/plantlust.com\/blog\/gardens\/the-roots-spikes-of-my-obsession\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/plantlust.com\/blog\/gardens\/the-roots-spikes-of-my-obsession\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Team Plant Lust\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/plantlust.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/dff2743007d9f472527f6a2b3148748a\"},\"headline\":\"The roots (spikes) of my obsession\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-02-25T17:49:49+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-01-24T14:19:12+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/plantlust.com\/blog\/gardens\/the-roots-spikes-of-my-obsession\/\"},\"wordCount\":924,\"commentCount\":11,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/plantlust.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"agave\",\"Agave 'Mateo'\",\"Agave bracteosa\",\"Agave gracilipes\",\"Agave lophantha\",\"Agave neomexicana\",\"Agave ovatifolia 'Frosty Blue'\",\"Agave parryi\",\"Agave parryi 'J.C. Raulston'\",\"Anigozanthos\",\"cistus nursery\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Gardens\",\"Plants\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/plantlust.com\/blog\/gardens\/the-roots-spikes-of-my-obsession\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/plantlust.com\/blog\/gardens\/the-roots-spikes-of-my-obsession\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/plantlust.com\/blog\/gardens\/the-roots-spikes-of-my-obsession\/\",\"name\":\"The roots (spikes) of my obsession - Plant Lust\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/plantlust.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2015-02-25T17:49:49+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-01-24T14:19:12+00:00\",\"description\":\"A few years ago, at a party for \u201cplant people,\u201d I was introduced to a friend\u2019s new beau. His first question, \u201cfavorite genus?\u201d I didn\u2019t hesitate, not even\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/plantlust.com\/blog\/gardens\/the-roots-spikes-of-my-obsession\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/plantlust.com\/blog\/gardens\/the-roots-spikes-of-my-obsession\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/plantlust.com\/blog\/gardens\/the-roots-spikes-of-my-obsession\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Blog home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/plantlust.com\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Gardens\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/plantlust.com\/blog\/category\/gardens\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"The roots (spikes) of my obsession\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/plantlust.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/plantlust.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Plant Lust\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/plantlust.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/plantlust.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/plantlust.com\/blog\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Plant Lust\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/plantlust.com\/blog\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/plantlust.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/d17vsf20mehj1i.cloudfront.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/06181748\/plantlust-logo_1x.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/d17vsf20mehj1i.cloudfront.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/06181748\/plantlust-logo_1x.png\",\"width\":109,\"height\":24,\"caption\":\"Plant Lust\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/plantlust.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/plantlust\/\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/plant_lust\/\",\"http:\/\/www.pinterest.com\/plantlust\/\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/plantlust.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/dff2743007d9f472527f6a2b3148748a\",\"name\":\"Team Plant Lust\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/plantlust.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6e895ecf6f6ebc667916a487acee0d54?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6e895ecf6f6ebc667916a487acee0d54?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Team Plant Lust\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/plantlust.com\/blog\/author\/team_plant_lust\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The roots (spikes) of my obsession - Plant Lust","description":"A few years ago, at a party for \u201cplant people,\u201d I was introduced to a friend\u2019s new beau. His first question, \u201cfavorite genus?\u201d I didn\u2019t hesitate, not even","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/plantlust.com\/blog\/gardens\/the-roots-spikes-of-my-obsession\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The roots (spikes) of my obsession - Plant Lust","og_description":"A few years ago, at a party for \u201cplant people,\u201d I was introduced to a friend\u2019s new beau. His first question, \u201cfavorite genus?\u201d I didn\u2019t hesitate, not even","og_url":"https:\/\/plantlust.com\/blog\/gardens\/the-roots-spikes-of-my-obsession\/","og_site_name":"Plant Lust","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/plantlust\/","article_published_time":"2015-02-25T17:49:49+00:00","article_modified_time":"2024-01-24T14:19:12+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1024,"height":608,"url":"https:\/\/d17vsf20mehj1i.cloudfront.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/01154812\/Feature-image.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Team Plant Lust","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Team Plant Lust","Est. reading time":"6 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/plantlust.com\/blog\/gardens\/the-roots-spikes-of-my-obsession\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/plantlust.com\/blog\/gardens\/the-roots-spikes-of-my-obsession\/"},"author":{"name":"Team Plant Lust","@id":"https:\/\/plantlust.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/dff2743007d9f472527f6a2b3148748a"},"headline":"The roots (spikes) of my obsession","datePublished":"2015-02-25T17:49:49+00:00","dateModified":"2024-01-24T14:19:12+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/plantlust.com\/blog\/gardens\/the-roots-spikes-of-my-obsession\/"},"wordCount":924,"commentCount":11,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/plantlust.com\/blog\/#organization"},"keywords":["agave","Agave 'Mateo'","Agave bracteosa","Agave gracilipes","Agave lophantha","Agave neomexicana","Agave ovatifolia 'Frosty Blue'","Agave parryi","Agave parryi 'J.C. Raulston'","Anigozanthos","cistus nursery"],"articleSection":["Gardens","Plants"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/plantlust.com\/blog\/gardens\/the-roots-spikes-of-my-obsession\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/plantlust.com\/blog\/gardens\/the-roots-spikes-of-my-obsession\/","url":"https:\/\/plantlust.com\/blog\/gardens\/the-roots-spikes-of-my-obsession\/","name":"The roots (spikes) of my obsession - Plant Lust","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/plantlust.com\/blog\/#website"},"datePublished":"2015-02-25T17:49:49+00:00","dateModified":"2024-01-24T14:19:12+00:00","description":"A few years ago, at a party for \u201cplant people,\u201d I was introduced to a friend\u2019s new beau. His first question, \u201cfavorite genus?\u201d I didn\u2019t hesitate, not even","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/plantlust.com\/blog\/gardens\/the-roots-spikes-of-my-obsession\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/plantlust.com\/blog\/gardens\/the-roots-spikes-of-my-obsession\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/plantlust.com\/blog\/gardens\/the-roots-spikes-of-my-obsession\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Blog home","item":"https:\/\/plantlust.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Gardens","item":"https:\/\/plantlust.com\/blog\/category\/gardens\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"The roots (spikes) of my obsession"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/plantlust.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/plantlust.com\/blog\/","name":"Plant Lust","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/plantlust.com\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/plantlust.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/plantlust.com\/blog\/#organization","name":"Plant Lust","url":"https:\/\/plantlust.com\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/plantlust.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/d17vsf20mehj1i.cloudfront.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/06181748\/plantlust-logo_1x.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/d17vsf20mehj1i.cloudfront.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/06181748\/plantlust-logo_1x.png","width":109,"height":24,"caption":"Plant Lust"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/plantlust.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/plantlust\/","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/plant_lust\/","http:\/\/www.pinterest.com\/plantlust\/"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/plantlust.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/dff2743007d9f472527f6a2b3148748a","name":"Team Plant Lust","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/plantlust.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6e895ecf6f6ebc667916a487acee0d54?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6e895ecf6f6ebc667916a487acee0d54?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Team Plant Lust"},"url":"https:\/\/plantlust.com\/blog\/author\/team_plant_lust\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/plantlust.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3905"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/plantlust.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/plantlust.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/plantlust.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/17"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/plantlust.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3905"}],"version-history":[{"count":20,"href":"https:\/\/plantlust.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3905\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":101543,"href":"https:\/\/plantlust.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3905\/revisions\/101543"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/plantlust.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3908"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/plantlust.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3905"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/plantlust.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3905"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/plantlust.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3905"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}