I've joked on and off about my fear that all the 'Blue Glow' Agaves in my south side garden will bloom at once. Agaves are monocarpic, which means that they die once they bloom. 'Blue Glow', a hybrid of Agave attenuata and Agave ocahui, forms a solitary rosette and doesn't normally produce pups either at its base or by runners, except on occasion if it's grown in a pot where its development is constrained. According to my records, I planted five of the seven plants I have in that area between September and November 2014. I added one more in September 2015. I've no record as to when I planted the seventh specimen but my guess is that it can't have been longer than a year later. I purchased all my plants from small pots before they ballooned in popularity - and price.
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| All 7 of my 'Blue Glow' Agaves are shown in this photo, along with several 'Blue Flame' Agaves. The latter are prolific puppers. Most of the 'Blue Flame' plants are pups of the original plant I added to the bed in 2016. |
Estimates of the life span of Agave 'Blue Glow' vary from seven to fifteen years. If I assume my plants were at least a year old at time of purchase, they range from seven to nine years old at present so my fears about blooms in my near-term future aren't unreasonable. I spotted a 'Blue Glow' in bloom in a neighbor's garden a couple of weeks ago and it was noticeably smaller than my largest plant.
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| My neighbor's 'Blue Glow' with developing bloom stalk in mid-June |
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| Photos of the bloom stalk taken yesterday. There are no flowers yet. |
I took a close look at my 'Blue Glows' a couple days ago and my apprehension inched up a couple of notches.
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| There's no sign of a bloom stalk but something looked off with the large plant in the background, warranting a closer look |
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| Can you see it? Look closely at the right side of the plant in the rear. |
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| This closeup photo shows two pups developing not from the plant's base but from its side! I'm taking this as evidence that this Agave is preparing to bloom. |
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| Closeup of the larger of the 2 pups |
As mentioned, this Agave doesn't usually produce pups but it may do so when it blooms. Blogger friend Hoover Boo at Piece of Eden has had experience with with these 'Blue Glow' off-shoots and I'm taking lessons from her description. As there's no apparent way to remove the developing pups from the Agave's side at this stage, I'm going to leave them alone and hope I can remove and plant them after the mother plant blooms out. I'm hoping that I'll also get bulbils (plantlets) from the flower stalk, which seems to be the most reliable way to propagate these Agaves. Another site I checked mentioned coring the Agave to force its production of pups but, on the theory that my plant is nearing bloom stage, that seems counter-productive.
As a postscript, while taking updated photos of my neighbor's blooming agave, I also took a few photos of the house next door that recently installed a new landscape.
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| This was a view of the new area back in mid-June, as shown in a prior post |
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| Updated photos featuring more plants and a nice blanket of mulch. In addition to the Mexican feather grass (Nassella tenuissima) and Lantana planted during their first round, the landscapers added large noID Agaves in 4 areas, blue chalksticks (Senecio mandraliscae), purple heart (Tradescantia pallida 'Purpurea') and mother-in-law's tongue (noID Sansevieria). |
It'll be interesting to see how this garden develops.
All material © 2012-2022 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party
Observing your Blue Glow and reading HB's comments (excellent road map of things to come!) is very exciting. What are the odds all 7 plant will bloom at once... statistics isn't my forte, but it can't be very high. It seems you'll have plenty of time to nurture new pups.
ReplyDeleteI LOVE Mexican feather grass, especially when large swats of it sway in the breeze. I shutter when I think of reseeding though. It was very prolific in my Seattle garden and I had to remove it.
Chavli
The agaves probably won't bloom all at once but even the thought of their blooming in close succession makes me shudder, Chavli. It would mean a wholesale renovation of that area of my garden. Re Mexican feather grass, I have quite a bit of it in my own garden, although I've gradually removed here and there. It IS invasive and, while easy to remove in most areas, it can be troublesome in tight spots.
DeleteI love how the baby plants created with agave are called pups .. is there a plant anywhere that has "kittens" ? LOL .. these are such spectacular, dramatic, plants I find .. again so foreign to what I work with I can't even imagine. The feather grass is beautiful especially with the description of swaying in the wind .. almost hypnotic ? .. I think the hardest thing I could deal with if I gardened in this zone is the absence of true Autumn and winter. Once you have grown up and lived in a four season climate you just can't do anything else ? LOL
ReplyDeleteThere are times I wish we had a real winter, CGJ, but I suspect I'd go stir-crazy after 2 weeks of snow and freezing temperatures ;) At present, I'd be happier if our winter just delivered rain on schedule in amounts close to our historical average.
DeleteThose are beautiful Agaves; I can see how they get their name. I would be sad to know that they're nearing the end; although we face that fact with a lot of annuals, biennials, and short-lived perennials, I guess.
ReplyDeleteThe difficulty of replacing the 'Blue Glows' is one of my biggest concerns, Beth. As Hoover Boo says, I'm likely to get lots of bulbils (plantlets growing from the bloom stalk) but it'll be many years before those are landscape worthy. I recently checked the prices of specimens less than 20 percent of the size of my existing plants - they were $60 each.
DeleteOne 'Blue Glow' flower stalk gave me no less than 50 bulbils, nearly all have survived. You check carefully in the mass of growth sprouting off the bloomstalk for a while, and keep watch. There may be many bulbils forming there! I have them stashed everywhere, Other stalks have given from zero to 10 bulbils. I think you will probably end up with as many as you want, and some to give away.
ReplyDeleteThe side shoots produce good plants too, but they can be a bear to hack out. I get the sense they won't live quite as long as a bulbil, but still at least a good 5 - 6 years, probably longer.
If I get a really productive bloom stalk like yours maybe I can eventually plant the entire back slope in 'Blue Glows', HB ;) I suspect they'll need some time in a "nursery" setting before I can plant them out with any chance of survival there, though. I planted a 'Blue Flame' pup there in early spring and I'm not sure it's going to survive as watering is intermittent at best there. Maybe I need to set up an olla watering system...
DeleteLooks like my favorite view in your garden is about to change, gardens are always evolving, aren't they? I think the bloom at your neighbor's is intriguing. I'll look forward to future developments! Eliza
ReplyDeleteI've previously only had 2 agaves bloom - both Agave desmettiana 'Variegata' planted in my street-side bed. Luckily, neither bloom stalk got too tall and heavy, although I did worry about them coming down on someone's car for a time. I harvested a lot of them in 2018, giving many away. Three are planted on the slope near my lath house but they're still only about 6 inches tall. Pups seem to grow more quickly.
DeleteWhat a fabulous grouping of Blue Glows... just gorgeous! I can see why you might be a bit apprehensive about it blooming. Mind you, HBs comment offers lots of encouragement. At least that is how I interpret it. Though I don't know much about them, Agaves are such interesting creatures. Some produce abundant pups, some (like my friend Lance's A. montana that bloomed last year) make you start over with seeds, and now this one with bulbils. I wonder what part in their family tree determine how they end up propagating...
ReplyDeleteHB's experience suggests that bulbil production can vary dramatically even within a species. I had a good experience with 2 Agave desmettiana but, even so, I was left with 2 big holes to fill in my street-side garden at the same time. Whether pups or bulbils, they take a good amount of time to develop to a size befitting placement in a landscape.
DeleteI thought Nassella tenuissima was forbidden in your area due to reseeding?
ReplyDeleteAs for your 'Blue Glow' with the strange pups please keep us updated. I've seen agaves that do exactly what yours is doing and then the pups and mom all bloom at the same time.
No, Nassella tenuissima is still sold by many (if not most) local garden centers. Some of the California native plant societies encourage use of less invasive species, though. As I recall, HB also mentioned that at least one 'Blue Glow' with side pups also had blooms from the pups. The plant's hormones must have been confused!
DeleteI’m sorry that your beautiful display may be about to transform, Kris, but I look forward to reading your documentation of the blooming process. It sounds like you are about to win the ‘Blue Glow’ lottery, with many new bulbils to play with.
ReplyDeleteHoover Boo reports that her 'Blue Glows' have varied with respect to bulbil production but I hope I'll be lucky right out of the gate, Horticat - after all, those tiny bulbils take years to become landscape worthy.
DeleteSome forms of 'Blue Glow' do form axial offsets. You can pull or cut them out after the mother plant has bloomed. They won't have roots, but they'll root readily in pumice.
ReplyDeleteYes, I'm hoping the pups will be viable - my experience with Agave desmettiana was that the pups develop far faster than the bulbils. HB reported that the side pups bloomed when the mother plant did in one case - I hope that doesn't happen!
DeleteI've had the same happen--smaller pups also blooming way before their time. I think the hormones that trigger blooming in the mother plant "spill over" to the immature pups.
DeleteI have a number of inherited blue glow and I am looking at them nervously worrying about the same thing. In a small garden it would be a bit of a disaster. They have never pupped. Yesterday I bought one identified as blue glow but it has 6 pups around the edges. Hence my search. I begging to think it is not blue glow at all.
ReplyDeleteI had an Agave 'Blue Glow' in a small pot for years and as I recall it produced a single pup in that situation, which I suspect was related to the stress of its confinement. The large plant mentioned in this 2022 post did bloom in 2023. We cut down the bloom stalk in August 2023 and harvested a small number of bulbils (baby plants) from the stalk. The mother plant itself did NOT die back as expected and now has about 5 pups but they're growing out of the side of the plant, not its base as would be expected based on the "normal" behavior of pupping agaves. My neighbor had a similar experience but the mother plant did finally die when it produced a second bloom stalk growing from a pup on its side. When I mentioned my experience on Instagram, a commentator who is well-known landscaper working with succulents noted that anomalies do happen when you're dealing with hybrid plants, which Agave 'Blue Glow' is. In any case, I think you shouldn't expect "normal" behavior from your pupping plant.
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