My husband and I got busy with another project late last week. It involved removing one of the large 'Blue Flame' Agaves in the south-side garden, although upon deliberation, not one I'd originally identified. Instead, I targeted the largest one, which was also the most damaged by sunburn and scarring. I quickly realized that I wouldn't be able to handle it by myself and sought help from my husband. He took care of the heavy lifting, with me helping to remove the debris.
I'll start with a before and after shot.
This is the agave's trimmed carcass, which I couldn't even pick up. We rolled it into a corner to dry out for a time. |
The leaves were so heavy, they had to be left in our driveway to dry out before we loaded them into our green recycle bins for pickup yesterday with their weight evenly distributed between the three bins. The agave's carcass will be cut into two or more pieces before they go into the recycle bin next week. Meanwhile, I got to work cleaning up the area opened up by its removal. I cut back the Vitex trifolia, woody sections of one of two Salvia clevelandii, and the dead spikes around the base of the Dasylirion longissimum (aka Mexican grass tree). I also removed masses of Senecio serpens (aka blue chalksticks), pups of Agave americana mediopicta 'Alba', and pesky grass weeds with deep roots (which could be crabgrass or possibly bermuda grass planted long ago by prior owners). I can't claim I got all the grass weeds as some are wrapped under and around other large, prickly agaves.
This view from the west side looking east doesn't look much different |
This side view shows off the 3 Agave mediopicta 'Alba' that have been partially hidden for some time |
View of the area from the east side looking southwest. The yellow trug behind the Euphorbia 'Sticks on Fire' was full of cuttings. |
I replanted some of the area I'd cleared with cuttings of Senecio serpens but there's still a good-sized empty spot to be filled.
There are 9 Senecio serpens clumps here and a few others outside the photo's frame on the left |
This is the empty spot |
I've been considering options for filling the open space while leaving sufficient room to facilitate future weeding and other maintenance work. Rain interrupted my work schedule.
I still have plants in need of new homes too.
The largest of the Agave mediopicta 'Alba' pups went into the empty pot in the north-side garden |
2 more agave pups and piles of Senecio serpens that will probably be given away |
We got 2.32 inches of rain in less than ten hours yesterday. It came down heavily, causing freeway and local road closures for a few hours. Our own neighborhood road, periodically used by skateboarders looking for thrills (despite signs prohibiting that), looked like a river for a time. Today should be mainly dry but another, larger atmospheric river is expected to move through beginning late Saturday. Current forecasts suggest that rain could continue through the following Saturday, which is a unnerving. Too much of a good thing can become a bad thing.
All material © 2012-2024 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party
A job well done. (Was it on your long to-do list you published in early January? I don't recall...).
ReplyDeleteI'm always taken aback by the eventual size and weight of agave's carcass, not from personal experience but rather from reading blog posts.
Judging by your photo the VERY handsome Agave ovalifolia 'Vanzie', it would make a good - and well behaved - replacement choice in the vacated space.
I remember your recent project in the north side garden and the empty blue pot left under the persimmon tree: Agave mediopicta 'Alba' is a perfect choice for it.
Chavli
My project list included removing 2 'Blue Flame' agaves but the one I'd initially targeted in that section of the south-side garden was smaller than the one we ended up taking out. We've removed smaller 'Blue Flames' before but this one (probably the original mother plant) was humongous. The only issue with planting the Agave ovalifolia I have on hand it that it's currently pretty small - I have to remind myself that patience is a virtue!
DeleteLots of work done! Funny, I woke up thinking "I should move that blue flame agave to the slope. Well now I reconsider - I didn't realize they were that heavy! I think 'Vanzie' is a beautiful choice. The dark aeoniums will look nice there, good contrast. Wow, you really are getting bucketed on. I'm hoping for reprieve between the showers, too much rain all at once is not what we asked for!
ReplyDeleteI love Agave 'Blue Flame' (not quite as much as 'Blue Glow' but almost); however it grows fast, gets very big, and pups like crazy in a dense clump. We've removed rosettes of those I have growing along the street a couple of times already as they want to spill into the street.
DeleteWhat a job! The opened up space looks great. I remember when my inlaws had all of their Agave americana removed from their property in New Mexico. I thought they were crazy. But of course now I understand. The size and weight of one of those plants and its inevitable pup and bloom cycles was definitely too much for a pair of aging nongardeners.
ReplyDeleteSo much rain! Wow. In the space of less than three weeks we've gone from a low of 12 degrees to a high (yesterday) of 62 degrees. The climate truly is one of extremes.
The weather flips are getting a little scary...Agave americana are fairly common here but I'd never plant the straight species in my garden as they get even larger than 'Blue Flame' - and much taller too. Agave americana mediopicta 'Alba' doesn't get nearly as big and I love its color. It's a sneaky pupper - prolific but most of those pups appear feet away from the mother plant, which makes them a lot easier to dig up to move or give away.
DeleteOvatifolia makes a nice contrast to 'Blue Glow'. The splashes of dark Aeoniums are a good contrast in the overall scene as well.
ReplyDeleteWhat is the Leucadendron behind the ovatifolia in the ground? Nice!
You got a lot more rain than we did here, but we got a good amount. No complaints there.
That Leucadendron is 'Summer Red'. It's become one of my favorites. It's a more manageable size than 'Chief', 'Wilson's Wonder' or 'Safari Goldstike' and it produces masses of flower-like bracts that change color over the season - red in summer, fading to ivory in fall, before taking on red touches again in winter.
DeleteWhat can better than an empty spot ! What a process to get that Agave out. My 'Blue Glow looks like it's going to take quite some time to 'pass on' and so far all the dead leaves are way at the base and not very prominent. I'm already strategizing my eventual removal plans.
ReplyDeleteMy largest 'Blue Glow' produced a bloom stalk last year. I got a handful of bulbils and cut down the stalk but the mother plant has a pup coming out its side and shows no inclination to die off. A neighbor up the street had the same experience except that her 'Blue Glow' now has a bloom stalk emerging from the pup on its side. I was told that sometimes hybrids do unexpected things...
DeleteI'm probably in the minority in slightly preferring 'Blue Flame' to 'Blue Glow' -- whatever the preference, that is such a beautiful stretch of planting, and now with space for more! Doesn't get any better. The grassiness of the path of trugs looks wonderful too. I'm trying to imagine all that rain in my LB garden and just can't fathom it yet...
ReplyDeleteThose are "grass substitutes" along that path, Denise - Lomandra 'Platinum Beauty' and Lomandra 'Breeze' with some creeping thyme on the edges. Re rain, I wondered how your Long Beach house and garden fared as the Los Angeles Times has featured lots of photos of flooding in LB :(
DeleteI am amazed at how big your agave got. I wouldn't have expected it to be that heavy from the pictures. Seeing the trimmed down core, I kept thinking about the tequila making process that uses those.
ReplyDeleteAgave 'Blue Flame' gets big, although its rapid formation of large interconnected clumps is what makes it particularly difficult in my view. Agave tequilana gets large too - reportedly 4-5 feet tall and wide.
DeleteKris, the agave project was amazing to read about. I've been wondering how you're faring through the rains this week. Take care.
ReplyDeleteThere are a LOT of warnings about this second atmospheric river, Susie. We've done more to prepare for this one and we're currently planning to stay close to home most of the week. It's expected to start anytime now and continue pretty much continuously through Friday. The Thursday storm brought more rain than expected so we're planning around this one.
DeleteThe agave trunk is really cool. Looks like a giant green pinecone finial. If it dries completely does it still look good? Funny about rain: either too much or too little. Rarely the perfect amount. Got to say though everything looks like it is really enjoying the extra moisture.
ReplyDeleteI don't think we've ever chopped up an agave like this before but, because it was so massive AND wedged between the large pups surrounding it, that was the only way to get it out! As to the rain, if it wasn't for the flooding and periodic landslides, it'd be perfect ;) Our rainy season is all too short.
DeleteWell, I was thinking of you and other friends and family in the L.A. area when I heard about the excessive rain. I hope it won't become too much of a hindrance or cause erosion, damage, or danger. Your garden is beautiful from every angle. You've been busy with these projects! Take care. :)
ReplyDeleteThanks Beth. The second atmospheric river got a slower than expected start today. It's expected to be heavy but Santa Barbara and Ventura seem to face greater challenges than we do. Of course, the rain cell that sat over our peninsula during Thursday's storm wasn't expected so I'm not sure how predictable these "rivers in the sky" really are.
DeleteWow, that was a big job! I'm sure it's very satisfying to have it done -- although this is probably not the best week to leave plant debris to dry out.
ReplyDeleteNo, it probably wasn't the best time to tackle that project, although I try to grab my husband's assistance with the heavy stuff when I can get it. Thankfully, we have 3 large bins for green recycling so we were able to spread the debris among them, although the agave's "carcass" is no lighter after after 2 atmospheric rivers so it may be kicking around here awhile longer ;)
DeleteI remember how heavy agaves can get, having removed one myself! I needed my husband's help to move it as well, so I appreciate what a task it was for you both. I have some chalksticks beginning to flower for the first time, so I will post photos of those soon. I think they look similar to some in your photos.
ReplyDeleteMy husband had to use a cart to get the agave's carcass to our green recycling bins yesterday, Jo. It was the only thing we put in one bin and the bin itself was still hard to move to the street! I don't love chalkstick flowers but the bees do so I let the flowers remain, although I do like the plants better without the blooms in this case.
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