If it is impervious to cold , it is A. striata. A. stricta is actually quite tender.... and smaller. It is an easy mistake to make and many of the nurseries that sell them get them confused too. I have several varieties of A. striata. My oldest has been blooming and not dying every year for 18 years. This year it put out 5 bloom stalks. The deer got 2 of them. First year that they attacked them. My favorite of my varieties is a A. striata "Live wire". It has pale glaucous arching narrow leaves that turn pink and lavender in the sun.

What have you done away with, took back and glad you did.

Ducher rose

I’ll think about this harder but it seems once I say Adios, it’s for good.

Here is an interesting blog post comparing the two Agave stricta and Agave Striata by Greg Starr nursery owner and agave collector from the wild.Those scientist do like to quibble over small details. I will just take their word for it.

Miz G, good story and unfortunately a true saying. Hadn't heard that one before.

Mara, I appreciated the correction. I've seen both names, but 'stricta' seemed to stick in my mind. But it's good to know the differences discussed in the link. I love the colors on 'live wire'. Wished I had bought one way back when Yuccado offered it.

Bossy, that's usually the way I am too. I try to throw away the tags so I won't be reminded. But I have been known to change my mind and either rescue a discarded plant or buy another one.

How about the rest of you?

I do not know why every good nursery is not offering Agave striata . It is a great plant for our area.....especially "live Wire". The names of the two agaves are similar and easy to confuse.

Here is my A striata 'Live Wire'

here is a baby live wire that pupped off of the one above. I separated it and planted it further away. I have another small pup that I am growing in a pot till it develops a better root system. They should be in every store. They are that foolproof and beautiful.

Compare that to this green one that grows more in the shade. It is a peculiar A. striata variety. The leaves are much longer and arching than most A. striatas. It has pupped up a storm in its long blooming life. Its bloom is a couple of weeks behind your agave in San Antonio.

Here is its baby grown from seed from the mother above that I placed out in brutal sun. It is changing russet red under stress but is growing good. I have 2 others out there to keep her company.

Here is a turquoise variety , A striata var falcata. It bloomed last year and then pupped. I am thinking of digging it out and separating and rooting the pups to get a bunch of them.I wonder what color it would take on under stress.

To answer your question, I brought home and agave for a friend and she never came over for it and all I did was place it on the unammended soil and it is still growing like a leaning tower of pizza.

Ragna , if it makes any seed pods, I sure would like to grow some babies.

Mara, I love seeing all the various form of A. striata you are growing. What a wonderful collection!!!

I agree that they should be more available. The regular nurseries just don't know to carry such things. I guess they are not that big of sellers to the general public. But with this dry weather, and Bob trying to keep things watered, I'm getting ever more enamored with what will grow with hardly any water AND will bloom to boot! No wonder agaves are called 'woody lilies'.

Something else I was seeing a few years ago were the burgundy dyckias and other pretty dyckias as well like nickle silver, but more recently -- nothing. The burgundy dyckia is such a beautiful plant, but I haven't had much luck separating the pups off of it. I've only gotten one to root successfully.

Okay, I'll be watching for seed pods. I just looked at it with binoculars through the kitchen window and can't tell yet.

Thank you. The pods won't start to swell for a while after the flowers are spent. My plant would only get a few pods on it, sometimes none. I think one of the reasons we do not see them in stores is because they do take a while to grow from seed to a sell able size like cactus.

I have 8 of these plants in our yard. This year the flower stalk grew out of 3 of them. The tallest stalk was 23 feet tall!!! The hummingbirds enjoyed those flowers for months.

RoseLee - wondering if you trim off the brown pieces at the bottom of the plants and the tips that brown? I found your post digging around for 'care' advice. I moved to Southern Nevada from the PNW and I am struggling with all my desert plants.

I used to trim them back with long loppers as well as clip the dead ends. Now I don't have the vigor to do it, but the new growth covers them pretty well. Eventually they rot at the bottom end and I just pull the dead stalks away. One thing I still do is clip the sharp ends with scissors on the side of one is growing near my front door lest a guest stumble into it. I used to worry about my dogs running into one of my many agaves while running and playing in the back yard, but they never have. They seem to sense they are there and avoid them even when playing.

I don't do anything but trim the blossoms off. We in Central Texas have a different growing situation and the browning might not be as bad here as in the High Desert.. Ragna, great to hear that you are still hanging in there. I too am cutting back on what I am willing to do. It is good that I like the wild look and live somewhere where it just reverts to nature and looks appropriate. I am growing about 20 of thes from seed right now.

I never see a 23' flower on the Agave striatas here. Maybe 12' - 15' at most..

I lost my A. striata "livewire" in that damn freeze and some of the newly planted other striatas. The ones that I dug up and gauled in did alright and thje mother that was way to big to dig u did fine. The ones under the trees that I forgot did fine but the ones out in the open that got ice and cold did not do well. well, I have plenty.

I live in Mesquite Nevada, about 80 miles north of Vegas. This stalk in our back yard was the tallest of the 3. This photo is before it was fully grown. I only figured out how tall it actually was after I cut the stalks down in the fall. The blooms on the stalks lasted for MONTHS and MONTHS. The hummers were very happy.

I just trimmed some of the very dead brown spikes from the bottom layer. We shall see how they do this summer and when more stalks will come!

They are unique even here... no one else in my neighborhood has them, and I have never seen one in our town. Trying to take good care of them... but maybe the best care is no care at all!!

Thank you all!!

IMPRESSIVE. Save seed, I would be interested...

How cold does it get where you are. Cold is different out there. You dip down in the night but don't stay there for long and all that rock does offer thermal heat while it radiates the plants.

Hi Wanton... we sit at 2000ft elevation, but the coldest nights up here are 28 degrees. This past winter we got down to 28 maybe 3 nights... more common to just get to freezing overnight.