This is the end ... agave ovatifolia

[tinman10101]

man i just love this agave and is a show stopper.  having it only about 10 years from a small 1 gallon to what it is now approx. 5ft in diameter, its been a great addition with contrasting colors in the garden.  plus it really lives up to the extremes of the high desert.  in any case, i will be sad once its gone and now debating if i should watch it flower for its full term or dig it out and plant something new ... well, it was beautiful while it lasted.  from research and friend's experience, 10 years is about the average life span of these.  

cheers

tin

 

[Rivera]

Would grow one if I had more space.

Watch it flower!

[Merlyn]

@tinman10101 I guess it depends on if it makes flowers or bulbils.  If it makes bulbils I'd definitely let it go, and then harvest a couple of babies to make new offsets.  I don't know what Ovatifolia do though...I'd guess flowers since I've got a couple of hybrids with part Ovatifolia.

[tinman10101]

17 hours ago, Merlyn said:

@tinman10101 I guess it depends on if it makes flowers or bulbils.  If it makes bulbils I'd definitely let it go, and then harvest a couple of babies to make new offsets.  I don't know what Ovatifolia do though...I'd guess flowers since I've got a couple of hybrids with part Ovatifolia.

i dont believe this particular species makes bulbis.  i know that characteristics are specific to very few agaves.  regardless, i am surprised you can grow agaves so well in FL.  thats awesome.  I do send my brother in miami some agave pups and he grows them in straight limestone with no watering whatsoever.

the only good thing about the flowering is now i have a huge amount of space to plant something new.  i am thinking of a large cycad since i have a natalensis i dug up that has about a 1.5 ft of trunk but then it will kill the staggering effect i want with the plants behind it.  i do have an agave montana i can plant which as you know gets quite large too but i think i am kinda done with agaves.  they are really cool but are terminal ... sadly i have an ovatifolia orca on the other side of the driveway that is about 2.5 ft wide.  its starting to look real nice but i know its life is limited too.  

cheers

tin

[Merlyn]

@tinman10101 I've also managed to kill about 180 agaves/aloes/cacti, so my success rate is only about 60%... 

With the Natalensis, you could always trim it upright and not let it keep a full crown.  It might look similar to the Chamaerops, where it sits up and over the top of other stuff.  With 1.5' of trunk that might not be immediate, but a few inches per year growth might look good too.

If you like the Orca, but hate the "expiration date," check out Agave "Ripple Effect."  It looks very similar to Orca, but is a semi-clustering hybrid.  Mine give me a couple of pups per year, so if it gets too big you can always chop it up and replace it with a pup.

[Darold Petty]

Tin, I would let the plant complete the flowering cycle.   

[tinman10101]

i thought i would update with photos.  i just might let it flower since i think its gonna be pretty spectacular

 

[dub671]

That Australian bottle tree not looking too shabby either!!

[PalmatierMeg]

14 hours ago, tinman10101 said:

i thought i would update with photos.  i just might let it flower since i think its gonna be pretty spectacular

 

Do let it flower. Agave ovatifolia does not offset and is very hard to find as replacement plants. Mine grew very well in Cape Coral and always looked pristine. I haven't been able to find a replacement. I prefer to "original" cultivar of ovatifolia. I haven't done well with the numerous variations - they have a tendency to die off.

[tinman10101]

3 hours ago, dub671 said:

That Australian bottle tree not looking too shabby either!!

Thanks. I've had it for about 15 years now but think it gets too frequent watering hence it will not get the beautiful bulbis trunks that I so want. 

 

[tinman10101]

2 hours ago, PalmatierMeg said:

Do let it flower. Agave ovatifolia does not offset and is very hard to find as replacement plants. Mine grew very well in Cape Coral and always looked pristine. I haven't been able to find a replacement. I prefer to "original" cultivar of ovatifolia. I haven't done well with the numerous variations - they have a tendency to die off.

I believe many of the cultivars are tissue culture Meg hence why they are suck weak plants.  This one is very old, so I know for sure it was seed grown. 

I originally wanted to dig it out because I was very excited by the thought of having such a large real estate available in my overcrowded yard but, it should be a pretty spectacular bloom and I've had it since it was in a 3" pot.  I'll document the flower as it starts shooting well above the palm line hopefully.  My last flowering agave was parryii and I did let it flower. 

[Merlyn]

@PalmatierMeg if you want to try another Ovatifolia, I'd get it from Greg Starr.  He is well respected in the agave groups, and has seed-grown plants that he collected himself: https://starr-nursery.com/shop/agaves/agave-ovatifolia-2/ They are all out of stock at the moment, but you can always email and ask.  I've bought quite a few plants from him and never had a problem.

[tinman10101]

I second what @Merlyn suggested.

I've purchased from Greg in the past.  Real stand up guy and always happy to give him my business. 

[Tracy]

On 4/14/2024 at 7:43 AM, tinman10101 said:

he only good thing about the flowering is now i have a huge amount of space to plant something new.  i am thinking of a large cycad since i have a natalensis i dug up that has about a 1.5 ft of trunk but then it will kill the staggering effect i want with the plants behind it.  i do have an agave montana i can plant which as you know gets quite large too but i think i am kinda done with agaves.  they are really cool but are terminal ... sadly i have an ovatifolia orca on the other side of the driveway that is about 2.5 ft wide.  its starting to look real nice but i know its life is limited too.

Tin, you know my bias on the thought about replacements.  The somewhat shiny green leaves of the Encephalartos natalensis will provide some nice contrast to the many grey's and blues you have.  I'm also in favor of your decision to proceed with letting the Agave bloom before you remove it.  Saturday, I made a similar decision and removed something that was struggling to regain some real estate.  In my case it wasn't an Agave approaching its normal life's end, but a palm that I gave almost three years to trying to rehabilitate.  It was hard because of the sentimental value, it was a Copernicia baileyana x hospita that George brought in from Florida that I planted about a decade ago.  It was pushing new fronds this spring, but despite trying everything I knew, they were underdeveloped in size, and between 60-80% brown even before opening.  Bottom line, I had a choice like you have now.... what to plant in its place.  I went with a seedling I have that is a green shiny leaf Encephalartos hybrid.  So I fully embrace your decision with the E natalensis, particularly where you have a nice large one!

[Billy]

5 minutes ago, Tracy said:

It was hard because of the sentimental value, it was a Copernicia baileyana x hospita that George brought in from Florida that I planted about a decade ago.  It was pushing new fronds this spring, but despite trying everything I knew, they were underdeveloped in size, and between 60-80% brown even before opening. 

Sorry to hear about your loss, Tracy. I kept an eye on that palm every time I would pass by. It was the prettiest copernicia I've ever seen so it was unfortunate to watch it decline. On a brighter note, I'm glad to hear you've already put something in it's place. I'll have to swing by sometime and check out the replacement.

[tinman10101]

2 hours ago, Tracy said:

Tin, you know my bias on the thought about replacements.  The somewhat shiny green leaves of the Encephalartos natalensis will provide some nice contrast to the many grey's and blues you have.  I'm also in favor of your decision to proceed with letting the Agave bloom before you remove it.  Saturday, I made a similar decision and removed something that was struggling to regain some real estate.  In my case it wasn't an Agave approaching its normal life's end, but a palm that I gave almost three years to trying to rehabilitate.  It was hard because of the sentimental value, it was a Copernicia baileyana x hospita that George brought in from Florida that I planted about a decade ago.  It was pushing new fronds this spring, but despite trying everything I knew, they were underdeveloped in size, and between 60-80% brown even before opening.  Bottom line, I had a choice like you have now.... what to plant in its place.  I went with a seedling I have that is a green shiny leaf Encephalartos hybrid.  So I fully embrace your decision with the E natalensis, particularly where you have a nice large one!

Wow. I'm so bummed that the Copernicia continued to decline. I followed that thread where you documented your efforts to rehab it.  3 years is a huge indication of your patience and of course your grip on its sentimental value.  I'm sorry you had to dig it out Tracy. I am sure we each felt the loss of something very special and ironically I dug up a 12 year old decipiens that I also received from George a year ago.  It declined and my year long battle to rehab it with everything under the sun was for nought. 

Thanks for sharing your story.  Yes I agree ... The Natalensis I have may be a great show stopper and will just about cover the same diameter as the agave ovatifolia in real estate.  I guess that planting will be some time next year.  In the mean time, I will admire the flowering. I swear the flower spathe grows at least 4-6 inches every night in height. 

 

Here's another shot from just this evening 

[tinman10101]

Just a quick update on the flower.  Bees are swarming daily. 

[tinman10101]

[Merlyn]

@tinman10101 I just finally cut down the stalk on my Angustifolia/Vivipara today.  It started flowering a couple of months ago and was just starting to set seed pods.  I decided I really didn't want 100,000 baby Angustifolia...they already produce plenty of pups!

[tinman10101]

2 minutes ago, Merlyn said:

@tinman10101 I just finally cut down the stalk on my Angustifolia/Vivipara today.  It started flowering a couple of months ago and was just starting to set seed pods.  I decided I really didn't want 100,000 baby Angustifolia...they already produce plenty of pups!

 

Nice!  Yeah I'm not sure I want the seeds of ovatifolia. This plant was one of the first available about 13 years ago and I purchased as a small seedling.  Sad to see it go. I've heard that ovatifolia don't live that long on the agave world. Plus it's flowering into my aloe Hercules and I think the nectar will just attract ants and then the pests. 

I will see in the next couple of weeks if I'll continue to let it flower the rest of the year. Not looking forward to digging it out either.