I like agaves. A lot. This part features practically nothing but them. I went into the sweltering greenhouse where they grow up, existing on “nothing but heat, like a newborn spider” (to quote Raymond Chandler) and took as many pictures as I could before the camera melted.
Agaves are easy to grow from seed, but getting them to the size where they will survive the vicissitudes of a Colorado garden takes nothing short of forever. It’s vastly simpler to have someone else grow them for you. Someone with a hothouse.
These are mostly Agave parryi, parryi var. neomexicana, havardiana, utahensis, lechuguilla, palmeri (a high elevation form that’s overwintered in Timberline’s demo garden), toumeyana var. bella, etc.
First, some yuccas.
Some big Agave havardiana, from the highest elevations in west Texas.
A gorgeous blue Agave parryi var. neomexicana.
close up
Agave parryi var. parryi, a particularly attractive plant, I believe these are from seed of Salman No. 1 (of High Country Gardens) or Salman No. 2. I want ….
Cactus, mother plants.
mother plants
mother plants
And people wonder why I go to Timberline all the time…..
I forgot to take pictures of the cactus garden (missed the flowering by a few weeks) and some other areas. Maybe next time.
the miserable gardener 
And I thought you were just teasing me yesterday when you mentioned the Agave greenhouse but then didn’t show it!
Amazing numbers…I’ll take that large (perfect) Agave parryi var. neomexicana please!
I was at the Hardy Plant weekend when this was performed:
http://www.oan.org/?785
Kind of speechless here. (Though, they’re easy to grow from seed….) Almost tempts me to post some of my dog songs. I better not, though.
Oh, do!
I think the blog would then take a different turn. There is one, somewhere on the blog. “O lips that sip, they drip, they drip.” Deep lyrics.