Because we’ve had another mild winter with regard to absolute low temperatures, the foliage on most of our hardy century plants is still looking good. In colder winters, foliar damage is often caused by our wet, cold winters. While we have been consistently cool and extremely wet (it has rained 50% of the days since January 1), the agaves look great…the well-drained soil is the key. We just took this image of Agave ‘Crazy Horse’, which is looking particularly architectural in the winter garden.
One of our most unique agave seedlings is a selection of Agave lophantha in which the tips of the leaves turn bright gold during the cold winter months. Here is our parent clump that’s been in the ground since 2011. Hopefully just a few more years and we’ll have enough to share…assuming there is any interest.
We posted this a few weeks ago as our Agave ‘Mountain Man’ (A. gentryi x montana) prepared to open. We’ll, the big moment is here…below are a few shot from today.
The seed were wild-collected in Mexico in the late 1990s by our friends at Yucca Do, and our seedling was planted in May 2000, so it took 17 years to flower. Fingers crossed for good seed set, and fortunately we have many more agaves in flower (and a tall ladder) to help the process. 
Look what showed up in the garden. Our specimen of Agave ‘Mountain Man’…a hybrid of Agave montana and Agave gentryi decidied to flower for our spring open nursery and garden. This unusual hybrid starts its flower spike in the fall, which stops for the coldest part of winter, then starts growing again in spring. The spike showed no damage despite a winter low of 13 degrees F. Be sure to check this out when you visit…located just behind the welcome tent.
October is a transitional month in the garden, as the plants of summer begin to fade and the stars of the autumn garden begin to shine. Join us Saturday October 8 from 10am – noon for a two-hour class…an interactive outdoor walk through our extensive botanical gardens, discussing the plants in the garden, and how and why they grow.
Garden berm with Agave, Yucca and cactus
These pictures were taken at Juniper Level Botanic Garden today.
The gardens in their fall glory
Brugmansia ‘Charles Grimaldi’ with hundreds of blooms in the garden today
Yucca and Muhlenbergia blooming in the garden today
We are very excited to see that we have at least 9 agaves so far that will be flowering in 2016. Above is a recent photo of Agave victoriae-reginae where you can see the bud forming in the center where the leaves have become reduced in size. While we lose the agaves after flowering, we are able to make crosses and create more new and unqiue agaves. We also share pollen with plant breeder Hans Hansen, who crosses them with manfredas to create some amazing mangaves as pictured below, which we are pleased to introduce for 2016
Mangave ‘Kaleidoscope’ makes a superb container plant where it isn’t hardy in the ground. It should be fine outdoors from Zone 7b south.
Mangave ‘Moonglow‘ with its large dark purple spots is the smallest of the three. The foliage of all is incredible pliable unlike most agaves.
A third introduction for 2016 is Mangave ‘Pineapple Express’…the fastest growing of these three. These will fill out a container in no time and are great for summer patio containers.
Agave x protoamericana
Agave salmiana var. ferox ‘Bellville’
One of the fun projects our JLBG research division has been working on for several years is breeding for winter hardy century plants. One of our latest crosses is between the two plants pictured above, Agave x protoamericana (blue) and Agave salmiana var. ferox ‘Bellville’ (green). These are the two largest agaves that are winter hardy for us, and we were able to cross them in 2014. We are offering seed grown offspring while they last under the name Agave ‘Bluebell Giants’. In most cases, our other hybrid agaves are larger and more vigorous than the parents, which in this cases could be HUGE! These seed-grown plants have now filled our 1 qt pots and we’ll be planting our first plants in the garden in spring. If you like giant agave and love to experiment along with us, don’t miss this once in a lifetime opportunity.
It’s been absolutely amazing to watch the swarm of honeybees, ants, and hummingbirds feeding on our giant 30′ tall flowering agave. Here’s an updated photo of the blessed event from yesterday. This weekend’s final summer open house is the last chance to see it in person.
Here’s our research staff getting the giant ladder in place for breeding as the giant Agave salmiana x asperrima begins to open. 
And here’s Jeremy, who heads up our Research Division, gathering pollen and making crosses. Breeding agaves is a little different from breeding daylilies, iris, and hostas. We hope you’ll join us during our summer open nursery and garden to see this monster in person.