by germinatrix | April 28th, 2009
Look what I spied on my walk a few days ago!
is there a recurring theme emerging on this blog?
This agave, Agave parryi truncata, is one of my very very favorites – I know I say this all the time, but – WELL! Agaves are so special to me, and I have so many that I am crazy about! Agave parryi truncata is a prefect size for smaller gardens, has that great gray color with dramatic black fingernails, and because the shape is curved inward (like a closed artichoke), it isn’t quite as pokey as other agaves. LOVE!
I can’t wait to see what this bloom is going to look like … I get different info from different sources (not unusual in the world of plants and planting) – but I think a 12 ft spike with yellow or purple flowers is what we have to look forward to. WOW.
love these subtle colors
The hummingbirds in my neighborhood are going to get so fat…
4/29 EMERGENCY LINK!
Everybody MUST check out Pam’s pics of Jenny’s (Rockrose) garden over at Digging! Serious garden fabulosity …
You’re killing me here! Beautiful. Can you give me an approximation of the size of the agave and the stalk? I’m guessing the girth of the stalk to be about like a chunky thigh…? (adult human…not a chicken)
Gorgeous! Although it does look quite, er, naughty, doesn’t it? I wonder how this agave does in Austin?
Can you believe this thing, Loree? I was so thrilled when I saw it! Let’s see, the size of A. parryi truncata is approx 20″ in diameter, and 18″ tall. The um … girth … of the bloom stalk – if we’re talking thighs, is as thick a child’s thigh – but an older kid, like ten.
Or if you bundled up about 15 chicken thighs… that would be it.
I think we have a whole new unit of measure here…’how big is that, in thighs?’
Hi Pam – I am starting to feel like a purveyor of serious garden porn. I mean, really!
I’ll bet A. parryi truncata would work in Austin – if A. ovatifolium works, I imagine this one would, too. You would LOVE it!
Oh My
What a beauty! Germi you seem to be on a phallus symbol scavenger hunt. You find them everywhere you look! Do you have a bingo card that you get to cross out a new square every time you find a new one? Are you going to be yelling BINGO soon?
Intheory
P.S- LOL @ “how big is that in thighs”!! Loree I think you are on to something there, because someone says 10″ in diameter I can’t always picture it, but a ten yr old’s thigh I know what you mean. So funny!
Spectacular, but something more spectacular to come. I had an Agave parryi which bloomed after only 3 years in the ground. I was not happy! I wanted it for longer as it was a rather expensive structural element in my garden. No pups of course but I think I have one seedling growing. I won’t know for a while.
ESP – I know… what can one say to that image? I hope I’m not going too far – but NATURE is doing this! In a neighborhood full of children! Shocking!
Theory dear – yes, They are popping up all over around me right now, if you will seriously pardon that terrible pun! I am actually hoping my Beschornia DOESN’T bloom this year, because that would be WAY too much – the parental blocks would start going up on The Germinatrix!
(btw, I know that everytime I see a bloomspike from now on, I will yell ‘BINGO’! I am very suggestible.
And I think we all need to start using thighs as a unit of measure – Loree has definitely started something!
Jenny – Do tell! Is the bloom going to kill us with extravagant beauty? I can’t wait! You have already killed me once, with those amazing images of your garden on Digging … I am sending you magical agave vibes so that another parryi comes your way. The way you use those A. desmettianas, mmmmhhmmm! I would love to see how you deploy the parryis…
Mrs Greenthumbs used to get excited about Lily stalks thrusting forcefully up from the ground…top bad she’s no longer with us…bet she’d write a paragraph about this one, Germi!
Annie at the Transplantable Rose
Oh, Annie! First – I am so pleased you stopped by! I am a fan … and even though I am really from San Antonio, I often claim Austin as my hometown. Because it’s cooler. And I think I am spiritually from Austin, anyway…
And you dropped the magic name! Mrs. Greenthumbs was my idol, my hero – I got interested in gardening by watching her antics on Regis and Kathy Lee (I loved when she’d mention her husband, Walter the Rock of Gibralter), and she was everything I hope to be! What an amazing and generous spirit, and what a performer, as well as a first-class gardener! I LOVE her still – thanks for conjuring her up, Annie! You are right – I think she’d get quite a thrill out of this … um, specimen…
I bought three agaves last year from High Country Gardens and of the three, only the A. paryii remains. Now if mine was that big, I’d be thrilled! It’s very small. Do they grow fast?
That bloom is going to be something else!!
Hi Kylee! Welcome!!!
Congrats on having a surviving A. parryi! It’s one of the best … and I think the smaller size is one of the reasons they are so great. In my experience, it grows faster in a container than it does in the ground (I don’t quite know the reason for this, but I’ll figure it out…) and here in SoCal mine have gone from pups to pretty mature (but not blooming) in 4 years. But none of mine ever got as big as the one my neighbor has, and two years ago they succumbed to some awful agave weevil or something. But I am getting more! They are too cool to live without, even in Ohio! Right on – Agave love, Midwest -style!