BCSS - Forum

I thought I'd separate out a thread that was getting a little of topic in places.
here's two pictures I posted of some of my variegated agaves, spinesandrosettes saw it as a challenge & had a go at identifying the agaves shown.
Feel free to add other agave pictures it's nice when we have a good selection of any group.

Spinesandrosettes

I would like to use your photos as a sort of self-administered pop-quiz, and hopefully, you can correct me of errors in ID.
Photo 1: From top left: 1) the single leaf of light green and cream edges - A. weberii Arizona Star, 2) the leaf visible directly under that one - A. americana Striata, 3) in the rear - A. americana Medio Picta Aurea, 4) in front of that, A. Blue Glow variegated cultivar known as Sun Glow or Snow Glow (I believe they are the same - shaded ones are very white, sunny positioned ones the white becomes yellow), 5) to the right of that - A. gypsophila Ivory Curls, 6) to the right of that - another Sun (Snow) Glow?, 7) small plant directly in front - can't really see it, 8) 1/2 plant visible to the right, A. xylonacantha Frostbite, 9) to the left of that - A. lophantha Splendida (or aka A. univitatta), 10) left of that, with tell-tale purple mottling - Manfreda sp., 11) left of that - is that an A. macroacantha?, 12) left of that - A. parryi Truncata, 13), to the right and lower in the photo - one of the many cool A. isthmensis cultivar/hybrids (A. pototorum is solitary, A. isthmensis prolific offsetters), 14) To the right - a beautiful A. Kissho Kan (another in the group of A. isthmensis Japanese cultivar/hybrid origin), 15) To the left of that - A. pumilla, 16) to the left of that, one of my absolute 2 best favorite A. victoriae reginae cultivars - A. victoriae reginae Medio Picta (my favorite of the 2 versions of MP), 17) to the left of that - a fantastically marked A. victoriae reginae - I'm keying on the short looking leaves - is that a "Kizan"? Compacta?
Photo 2: from top left to right - gypsophila I.C. again, Sun Glow again, then 1) to the rear in the shadow - A. macroacantha, 2) in front of that, a fabulous specimen of A. macroacantha "Blue Ribbon" aka marginata, 3) below that in the small pot, can't really see it - but I'll take a stab - A. schidigera culitvar or A. filifera Compacta cultivar???, 4) left of that - A. isthmensis group, 5) my absolute favorite of all the A. victoriae reginae with different names: White Rhino, Snow Queen, Albo Marginata, White Variegated. I only have about 20 acquired under any of those 4 names, but it's not enough! If that were the only agave I could own, I'd be really happy. , 6) left of that - A. Kissho Kan, 7) to the left of that in the larger pot - can't really tell but from the seemingly smooth leaf margins and leaf shape, I'd say perhaps A. weberii or the hybrid known as A. Blue Flame, or something like that. 8) skip to the bottom row - left in small square pot - A. Kissho Kan Medio Picta???, 9) to the right of that - what a fantastic plant!!! Due to it's very distinctive leaf shape, that is something I think of as A. Verschaffeltii , and it's a fantastic Medio Picta version (drooling), 10) to the right - A. romanii (don't have one, but that's what I think it is) - is that what they call "Shadow Dancer" ? Whatever it is, it's NICE!!! 11) right of that, I'm focusing on the twisty spines - looks like a pup of the A. parryi Truncata from the other photo, 12) to the right, last but not least - another A. victoriae reginae but Kazo Bana cultivar (or yellow variegated, etc.)

Anyway, thank you for that visual feast - lot's of fun!!!

Spinesandrosettes : From top left: 1) the single leaf of light green and cream edges - A. weberii Arizona Star, YES
2) the leaf visible directly under that one - A. americana Striata,YES
3) in the rear - A. americana Medio Picta Aurea, YES
4) in front of that, A. Blue Glow variegated cultivar known as Sun Glow or Snow Glow (I believe they are the same - shaded ones are very white, sunny positioned ones the white becomes yellow),- No they are definitely two different colours for me but we don't get that much sun .
5) to the right of that - A. gypsophila Ivory Curls,YES
6) to the right of that - another Sun (Snow) Glow?,NO
7) small plant directly in front - can't really see it,
8) 1/2 plant visible to the right, A. xylonacantha Frostbite, YES
9) to the left of that - A. lophantha Splendida (or aka A. univitatta),
10) left of that, with tell-tale purple mottling - Manfreda sp.YES,It's called gonzalo
11) left of that - is that an A. macroacantha?, No it's a supposedly RARE spineless agave utahensis, very SLOW.
12) left of that - A. parryi Truncata,YES, Huntington clone, lovely matt colouring
13), to the right and lower in the photo - one of the many cool A. isthmensis cultivar/hybrids YES, 'blue winds (A. pototorum is solitary, A. isthmensis prolific offsetters)
14) To the right - a beautiful A. Kissho Kan (another in the group of A. isthmensis Japanese cultivar/hybrid origin), thes are great as they don't get any bigger, ideal for every collection.
15) To the left of that - A. pumilla, YES
16) to the left of that, one of my absolute 2 best favorite A. victoriae reginae cultivars,YES - A. victoriae reginae Medio Picta (my favorite of the 2 versions of MP), 17) to the left of that - a fantastically marked A. victoriae reginae - I'm keying on the short looking leaves - is that a "Kizan"? Compacta? , YES, it's a striated VR.

More from Spinesandrosettes
Photo 2: from top left to right - gypsophila I.C. again,
Sun Glow again, that's a lophantha quad but hard to see
1) to the rear in the shadow - A. macroacantha,
2) in front of that, a fabulous specimen of A. macroacantha "Blue Ribbon" aka marginata, yes & No, mine is not the tissue culture plant & is more blue & white than green & cream but I'm still dithering about this after getting BR plant.
3) below that in the small pot, can't really see it - but I'll take a stab - A. schidigera culitvar or A. filifera Compacta cultivar???, filifer compacta medio picta, small & slow
4) left of that - A. isthmensis group,
5) my absolute favorite of all the A. victoriae reginae with different names: White Rhino, Snow Queen, Albo Marginata, White Variegated. I only have about 20 acquired under any of those 4 names, but it's not enough! If that were the only agave I could own, I'd be really happy. , MY cv came as hyon zan- another for cv collection names
6) left of that - A. Kissho Kan,
7) to the left of that in the larger pot - can't really tell but from the seemingly smooth leaf margins and leaf shape, I'd say perhaps A. weberii or the hybrid known as A. Blue Flame, or something like that. a guisebrechtii & a pelona
8) skip to the bottom row - left in small square pot - A. Kissho Kan Medio Picta???, 9) to the right of that - what a fantastic plant!!! Due to it's very distinctive leaf shape, that is something I think of as A. Verschaffeltii , and it's a fantastic Medio Picta version (drooling), 10) to the right - A. romanii (don't have one, but that's what I think it is) - is that what they call "Shadow Dancer" ? Whatever it is, it's NICE!!! 11) right of that, I'm focusing on the twisty spines - looks like a pup of the A. parryi Truncata from the other photo, 12) to the right, last but not least - another A. victoriae reginae but Kazo Bana cultivar (or yellow variegated, etc.) Front row has 'rum runner', unnamed Thailand plant, shadow dancer sounds a lovely name for it, agave romanni 'blondee', a parryi mp form, a Victoria reginae ' golden prince'- quite a good stable form that's stays yellow not reverting to green.

Hope this isn't too confusing, maybe they need numbers on them.
Tina

Good idea Tina. I'm still far away from repotting (and taking pics) of agaves I have, but you can count on me when its their turn...

These are beautiful plants Tina, thanks for posting. At present I only have 3 Agaves , but I now feel I shall look for some more!

When I get an opportunity, I'll post mine too, Tina.

Thanks Tina for starting the new thread, and thanks for confirming or correcting the IDs on your lovely variegated agave collage.

Iain mentioned he's like to see the White Variegated A. victoriae reginae assembly I have, and this seems like a more appropriate thread for that, so I'll post them here. Also, now that I see there is a great new thread, I'll come back and post up some pics of a few agave favorites in my collection, if they are also relatively uncommon.

I tried taking pics of the entire group, but there's two distinct categories, which I'll call the Kindergarten, and the BIGS. They just didn't photograph together well, so I finally split them into 2 groups, and was more happy with the pics that way.

Here's the first group, the Kindergarten class. These are all pups I'm growing that are about 1 year old or less. This group I call the "Bigs", and they are 3 years old or older. My favorite is the one in the gallon pot upper left corner, as it's the very first one I acquired, as "White Rhino". It's also produced 5 pups now since I've had it. My next favorite is the one to the right, because it's my largest. It's a little embarrassing what I paid for it, but I've sold 2 of the pups which recovered a big chunk of it's cost, and another pup has been removed, and growing, while 3 more pups remain on the plant to be removed next year. I justified the purchase telling myself that it was an "investment", of course not really believing it, but it actually did turn out to be a good one. Next 2 favorites - the 2 bordering the left edge of the photo, because they are perfect, and they also came from the famous Tony Krock, King of the Variegated Agave growers (Southern California). Finally, my next two faves are in the lower center of the photo, and I'm sure in time they will be my absolute favorites. They are each mothers of a single pure albino pup, and provided I can keep them alive and that they continue to grow (the albinos already made it for 2 years so far), they will make absolutely spectacular pairs, mother and albino. I'm thinking another 2 years before they really look like something... Coincidentally, those were purchased in a group of 8 plants, under the name "Snow Queen", from noted Agave expert and author, Greg Starr. When they arrived, I could not believe that 2 had 3 of the tiniest white specks of agave pups, which I realized immediately were albinos. I took great care not to disturb them, but one fell off and of course died. Over time, the remaining 2 did not die, kept growing, and offer hope to eventually become extremely rare and lovely plants. As long as they remain attached to their mother plants, they have a source for food and can continue to grow, although at an extremely slow rate. Anyway, so far, so good. I think that different angles show off their beauty in different ways, here's a more overhead view. 7 babies, 11 larger = 18 total in their own pots. The larger ones have 7 more pups growing on them, which won't be removed until Spring. 2 are pure albinos, they will be permanently attached to their mother plants, since they can not survive on their own. 1 more is on the fence - it started out with a very white leaf with a thin green stripe down the middle, but subsequent leaves appear completely white. I'm hoping more green striped leaves develop in the future, so that eventually it can be it's own separate plant, a super-white variegated sport. If not, it will be a 3rd albino, forever to be attached to it's Mom. The remaining 4 pups are normal as far as being typical of the White Variegates, they will become separate plants next year. I had 1/2 dozen more, but one inexplicably withered away bit by bit, and nothing I tried to do could save it. It's the only one I've ever lost of this cultivar. Another, I gave away, the others traded or sold.

Here's a favorite. I got it 3 1/2 years ago looking like this... roughly an inch big. This cultivar known as A. palmeri Kutsugen No Mai Ogi (but quite possibly not an A. palmeri at all!), is a plant I love for it's powdery blue leaves, contrasted with fantastically colored and shaped spines. This particular plant still has it's nice cast from the leave's waxy coating, and showing the markings left behind from the spines of the leaf yet unopened inside the leaf which unfurls ahead of it. It's a plant I'm very proud of, in that it's never been dropped, knocked over, sunburned, or watered overhead (not trying to start an argument - lol) which would have had a negative effect on the natural coating of the leaves. Believe it or not, this plant has never even been wet (much), ever, or been washed off in any way. So, whatever dust and dirt has accumulated on it in 3 1/2 years, I'll happily leave it on the plant, for as long as the plant and I both survive. It gets watered by sitting in a pail of water, the water line below the lowest leaves draping over the pot. Although the merged spines known for this cultivar disappear with age, it's still a stunner in my opinion.

Spinesandrosettes thanks for posting these pictures, which have really captured the beauty of these plants.