Wednesday, September 8, 2021

There's only so much space

It's still too hot to get any major projects done in the garden and too early to go ahead with replanting areas that need an overhaul.  However, I've taken advantage of some cooler days here and there to start small-scale cleanups in a few areas.  In the process, I've pulled up a lot of agave pups.  I hate to throw them away so I've been potting them up and storing them behind the garage and next to my compost bins.

Agave 'Jaws' has become something of a pupping machine.  In addition to the pups you can see under the mother plant's arms (left), I discovered four more pups feet away (right).

With the noID agave pups I pulled out of the dry garden on the northeast side of the house late last month, the Agave 'Jaws' pups shown above, and another handful of Agave 'Medio-picta Alba' pups I pulled out of my south side garden earlier this week, I'd accumulated more than I wanted to store.  Time for another plant giveaway!

This batch of 24 plants were placed at the corner of our driveway late yesterday afternoon


I labeled everything as best I could.  These pups came up in the vicinity of several Agaves in my northeast dry garden and, at this size, I'm uncertain of their parentage.

I was able to identify most of the rest.  The exception was a stressed-out pup of what may be Mangave 'Lavender Lady'.

While reducing some of my surplus plant stock, I somehow managed to pick up other plants courtesy of a few friends at the same time.  Funny how that happens.  Here are the plants currently awaiting placement somewhere in my garden.

Aloe lukeana, received from Gerhard of Succulents & More.  It needs a lot of space so I'm debating whether it should go in my street-side succulent bed or on my back slope.

Aloe 'Moonglow', received as bare root pups from Denise of A Growing Obsession.  I potted them up while they await placement.  At least one or two of these will go into my south side garden.

Mangave 'My Dog Spot', received yesterday from my friend Kay, who can be found on Instagram @kaeru.niwa

Of the twenty-four plants I put out late yesterday afternoon, only nine of the smaller ones were still left when I checked this morning but, with the marine layer still firmly in place, there's a good chance more of them will find homes with neighbors who walk the area when the temperatures are still comfortable.  I'll leave them until late this afternoon to see if more disappear.  Twenty-four small plants out in exchange for four larger ones in isn't bad, though!


All material © 2012-2021 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party

16 comments:

  1. You are populating your neighborhood with water-wise plants. Cool!

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  2. Wow, nice to have so many pups and to give them away! :)

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    1. Some agaves produce a ridiculous number of pups while others produce none at all, Beth.

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  3. My A. 'Moonglow' came from Gerhard-all is connected ! 'My Dog Spot' is new to me, but I'm still holding off on more Mangaves until I see what happens this winter with my existing plants.

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    1. I'm lucky when it comes to Mangaves, Kathy. Winter hardiness isn't an issue. I've yet to experience a freeze in our current location, which is a good thing as I just placed mail orders for 4 more Mangaves...

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  4. Gardeners are the most generous people! I love how we spread the joys of gardening around. I bet your neighbors love you!

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    1. I don't know about that, Anna, but they do brake for my free plants signs ;)

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  5. This is "Plant Karma": what goes around comes around kind of thing. If I were your neighbor, I'd be passing by daily, never to miss an opportunity of free plants.

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    1. I like the idea of "Plant Karma"! One neighbor left me a dozen eggs from her "happy chickens" in response to an earlier giveaway and another gave me a nice Plumeria cutting (now blooming) even after I tried to turn the offer down ;)

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  6. I admire your potting-up patience and generosity. The fiddlyness of it bothers me.

    Too often offsets get tossed here--I tried several times putting out cleaned up ready to plant cuttings, but 80% were never picked up.

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    1. I suspect your neighborhood has a lot less traffic and walkers than mine, HB. However, the bigger plants always go a lot quicker here than the dinky ones. Most of the tiny "might be parryi" agaves got left behind. I stuck some of those into my own street side succulent bed, where they'll either die slowly bulk up ;)

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  7. I had fortunate timing with my visit and picked-up the Agave ‘Jaws’! I was drawn not only to its name, but photos of your larger specimen with the visible bud imprints and large marginal teeth. You are so generous to not only pot up the pups, but to provide a plant label! The xMangave ‘Silver Fox’ pups you put out were larger than some of the xMangaves I have purchased from mail order!
    Once I have made more progress with editing out some other succulents taking up space at my home, I also plan to purchase more xMangaves. ;-)
    I look forward to seeing your ‘My Dog Spot’ maturing. I have not seen this sold online nor in nurseries since I purchased it almost 7 months ago.

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    1. I hope 'Jaws' does well for you, Kay. Thank you again for 'My Dog Spot'! I have 4 more Mangaves on order from the source you identified for me, plus one ('Black Magic') I've had in a 4-inch pot since receiving it as a small mail order plug. I plan to get some in the ground this fall.

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  8. I love that you're not just putting plants out at the curb but also including a lot of information, educating! I decided a dozen or so of my random container succulents were no longer bringing me joy and repotted them in plastic pots and put them at the curb. I texted a couple of neighbors they were there and before I knew it, all gone!

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    1. It's amazing how fast free plants can disappear, Loree ;) The same is generally true of free fruit too. I'm thinking of putting out some persimmons (which my husband and I don't particularly care for) before the raccoons make a mess of them but I'm not sure persimmons have the same appeal as citrus.

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