While we wait for Diane's mangave to flower...

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Phil_SK
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Re: While we wait for Diane's mangave to flower...

Post by Phil_SK »

edds wrote: Mon Jun 20, 2022 10:42 pm I was sent a picture of some Mangave in stock in Morrisons - £8 each. One was Blazing Saddles but couldn't make out the other's name.
Thank you for the tip! I've managed to get my hands on the one I wanted, Silver Fox. The store I visited also had three of the four I already have (Red Wing, Edwardian Lady, Pineapple express) and the Blazing Saddles you mentioned.
Phil Crewe, BCSS 38143. Mostly S. American cacti, esp. Lobivia, Sulcorebutia and little Opuntia
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Re: While we wait for Diane's mangave to flower...

Post by edds »

Phil_SK wrote: Tue Jun 21, 2022 7:45 pm
edds wrote: Mon Jun 20, 2022 10:42 pm I was sent a picture of some Mangave in stock in Morrisons - £8 each. One was Blazing Saddles but couldn't make out the other's name.
Thank you for the tip! I've managed to get my hands on the one I wanted, Silver Fox. The store I visited also had three of the four I already have (Red Wing, Edwardian Lady, Pineapple express) and the Blazing Saddles you mentioned.
(tu)
Ed

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Re: While we wait for Diane's mangave to flower...

Post by WayneM »

Blazing Saddles was not one of the most easily obtainable , but good for Morrisons, and what a great price too.

As we're talking about Mangave’s, here's one I think will turn out to be rather nice.
Aztec King
IMG_20220524_171354_477.jpg
Wayne
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WayneM
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Re: While we wait for Diane's mangave to flower...

Post by WayneM »

Another colourful Mangave is Kaleidoscope
IMG_20220613_221421_153.jpg
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Re: While we wait for Diane's mangave to flower...

Post by chrisg »

Hello everyone, it's been a while since i was last here. So as Paul mentioned I do indeed have one or two mangaves and manfredas, this week I finally managed to break the 50 varieties mark. I have been collecting them for around 15 years, started with manfredas which were easier to find, then got the UK mangaves bloodspot and macho mocha, then the slipper slope of plant delights orders started which is where my espresso came from.

I got my first UK mangaves from a friend who sadly died the year after he germinated the seed, he produced agave obscura x manfreda viginica and agave obscura x manfreda maculosa crosses, one of each which have turned into lovely plants and I named for villages he liked managve splatt and mangave pucklechurch. Since then I have crossed my mangaves whenever I have them in flowers, so the first one was mangave pucklechurch x agave horrida. This has produced three nice forms, and lots of not quite there ones. Last year I crossed mangave moonglow with agave parasana. This year I have already crossed a couple and have just got some agave montana pollen which i am using on my moonglow, and freckles and speckles flowers. As you can see I always try to use agave pollen but can sometimes be hard to find.

As and when i get spares of each variety I try them outside in various levels of protection, of the new mangaves bad hair day has proved to be totally hardy without any protection and has been outside for 4 winters now. Keildescope has also proved hardy for 3. Last year I had redwing outside unprotected, and it wasn't marked but it was considerable milder even though on the edge of London we did have almost a month of -4 nights. Many more have proved to be fine with simple rain cloches: silver fox, mission to mars, to name some that are available here.

In terms of how they behave after flowering, there is every combination going. Some purely follow agave parentage and flowers, with the main plant diing and offsets coming up around the plant. Others produce bulbils and offsets. Some appear to survive but actually it is that offsets push up through the centre of the plant and it just looks like a new head, i believe bad hair day is in that group, I will find out soon.

I was considering applying for the national collection, but then found out you have to have 3 or each, and that is a problem on two fronts. Firstly as many of you have found they are hard to come by in the UK, so getting hold of three is either very time consuming, or very expensive or both. Secondly I have a small garden on the edge of london, and have 50 varieties takes up a lot of space having 150 plants would not be possible, especially when some get to over 4feet across.

Always happy to talk mangaves, especially if there are other collectors or if anyone is trying to produce their own. who knows I may even be pursuaded to post pictures. And it was a pleasure to show Paul, that mangaves are not all bad and even send him home with a plant or two.
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