Having Babies....

Not me...but our Agave plants!

When I purchased plants for the our Ojai landscape, I included three varieties of Agave.

They are very drought tolerant and add so much interest to our garden beds. 

 I wanted these to be companion plants, to the many other softer,

 more willowy plants that complement the style of this garden

Sometimes they are called a Century Plant, 

because they bloom about every 15 to 20 years,

but what I have learned is that they will bloom sooner

 if you pamper them a bit...which it looks like I have done!

Most of the Agave that we planted were in 3 and 5 gallon containers...actually pretty small

I planted the T Webber's Blue, Americana 

and my favorite the Desmettiana Variegata

Almost all the Agave have become really large, 4 years later

 and most of the plants are surrounded by "pups" 

 We will try to dig up and divide these this winter or early spring 

to use in other areas of the garden.

Let me add that these pretty but pesky plants 

are really difficult to dig around...my husband and I have both gotten some pretty nasty "pokes' from the sharp ends 

and they leave bruised and tender lumps when you get jabbed!

 now for the 

"plant sic-fi"

 part of this post

  about a month ago two of them started to sprout this 

crazy weird asparagus stalk thingy...

what is that....?

oh no...

I don't think this is a good thing!

the stalks are about 4 feet high right now 

and seem to be growing about a foot each week...

it's like a Jack and the Beanstalk event

 I did some research and came across a great blog called  

Gardening Gone Wild

You must visit this site

 if you are even somewhat into gardening...trust me on this one.

 One of the blog writers happens to be a well known author and lecturer named Debra Lee Baldwin. 

 I realized when I read her bio, that I have one of her books, which I love:

Designing With Succulents.

I highly recommend her book 

if you have a desire to use succulents in containers 

or in your garden.  

It is full of info and inspiration!

 Agave are a type of plant called Monocarpic,

 which means the plant will die after if flowers.

  The mother plant grows this tall stalk, in order to reproduce more agave

and expends all of her energy as she does this. 

In the photo above you can see where the stalk is staring to produce 

the beginnings of lateral branches.

Here is a photo of what this stalk will eventually look like

 courtesy of Debra's web site

 The stalks will go from green to red 

and form these 20 foot tall "trees"

Each branch will have many groups of blossoms.  

When the stalk can no longer support the weight of the blossom clumps

 it falls over.

  The idea is 

that the small little Agave babies 

will start to grow where they land...how efficient is our Agave mom!?

This type of agave offers highly nutritious nectar for butterflies and hummingbirds too

It is also used as a sugar substitute 

which I think we have all seen in the super market  as 

Agave Nectar...

similar to honey but much sweeter

 The longer I garden in this climate 

the more I have come to love succulents 

and the beauty of these unique plants

 I will keep a good "gardeners journal" on this happy event

 because 

I may never see this happen again in our garden..or in my lifetime even!

  I have decided to buy a pair of really long leather gloves for dealing with these beauties...and maybe a pair of goggles...

and a helmet

and a...OK I'll just show you

happy gardening!