Agaves in my Tropical Paradise in NW Orlando, FL

[Merlyn2220]

About 20 years ago I escaped the frozen tundra of Michigan and moved to the sauna of NW Orlando, FL. I bought a house with a "nice" oak canopy but didn't realize they were "trash oaks" a.k.a. Water Oaks. They grow fast with shallow roots and die in 30-50 years. About 5 years ago I started taking them all down and creating a palm and cycad paradise. But I grew up with my grandparent's agave and cactus collection in TX and had to make space for a decent number of them here. A few of you may recognize my username from the PalmTalk forum, I have a complete build thread there for all the palms and construction. What follows here is the agave and cactus portion of the landscape, starting with....the oak forest!

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The backyard was ferns, ferns, and more ferns!

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[Merlyn2220]

The first part that was "sorta finished" was in the front yard with some palms, cycas revoluta, australian tree ferns and my first agave purchases: Americana in the middle, variegated Desmettiana on each side and Lophantha. I added a couple of Lophantha Quadricolor later, but this was the best early photo I have.

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Just to the right side of that photo is a new bed around a light post, with a pair of Americana around an Encephalartos Whitelockii, and in the foreground a couple more variegated Desmettiana. In between those are a regular Potatorum, a "Desert Diamond" Potatorum, a Victoria-Reginae yellow variegated, and an Applanata "Cream Spike." A tree guy stomped on the "Cream Spike" and it later died.

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[Merlyn2220]

On the other side of the front driveway I built a palm and cycad bed, and put another pair of variegated Desmettiana near the concrete. In the semi-shaded spot in the earlier photo they took some significant frost damage around 33F, so I'm trying them near concrete to see if that helps. On the right side is a random mess of variegated Americana. These are from some of the very early big box store purchases, before I really got interested in agaves:

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[Merlyn2220]

In the summer of 2018 I had 15 big water oaks taken down, 12 in the back yard. It was a MESS!

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With a blank slate now, I started building out a real agave bed area. I planted the silver Bismarck palm here in the middle before I'd decided that this was my agave spot, and they are notorious for dying if you dig them up. So it's there and not moving. My neighbor gave me the solo Phoenix Roebellini on the left.

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The block outline is my new raised bed, with mostly sand underneath it.

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[Merlyn2220]

I filled it in with a 50/50 mix of coarse sand and generic topsoil, and covered it in red lava rock. Here it is right after planting in September 2018:

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Clockwise from the Bismarck I have Celsii Multicolor, Attenuata Boutin Blue, a random unidentified Vilmoriniana, PDN's Stairway to Heaven, a Blue Glow, Dragon Toes, Durango Fandango, Parryi Truncata, Chazaroi (maybe), PDN's Bluebell Giants, a pair of green Desmettiana, a regular Attenuata. In the middle are a few random Americana, an Ovatifolia Frosty Blue and an Angustifolia variegated just left of the Bismarck.

Last summer I finally finished the front edge of the whole yard, and added a few feet to the front of the agave bed. Everything except the "Durango Fandango" grew great, but that one is just hanging on with rotting lower leaves. It just can't seem to hang onto more than about 6 leaves at a time, I have no idea why.

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The somewhat weedy new area got a whole bunch of new agaves from Agaveville members and elsewhere. On the NW side:

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In the center North side:

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And on the NE side:

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[Merlyn2220]

In December 2019 I decided that I needed more space! And I also decided that I didn't like the basic red lava rock anymore, so I made a border with salt-and-pepper granite in the front. I wanted to build a raised area in the back for some more water-sensitive types, and the original builders of my house had left a whole lot of extra quartz from doing the front wall accents and the fireplace, so I used that to make the raised bed and to make a little "stream" down the middle. It's still kind of a mess out there, but I only had to dig out two random Americanas to finish up this area. This was before I finished cleaning up the banana leaf debris, please ignore the mess!

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[Meangreen94z]

Looking good. Hopefully you find a solution to your previously mentioned road noise problem, and can enjoy all that hard work for years to come.

[abborean]

Absolutely gorgeous! I can see some transplanting in the future for the larger species. Wish I could have planned mine like this instead of nickel and diming it as I went over the years.

[Merlyn2220]

Thanks! I am probably going to add a raised area in the left center of the new area. I think I'm going to move the "Bluebell Giants" over there before it's too big to dig up and transplant. It's not so much "planned" as it is "done, then redone, then looked at for months, ignored while working in another area, then redone again, then..."

MeanGreen I am hoping the Viburnum hedge along the fence will get over fence height this spring. I've also planted several bamboos just inside the viburnum hedge. I have 3 shorter ones between the agave bed and the fence to the right of the photo (Bambusa Vulgaris Wamin Striata, Bambusa Tuldoides "Swollen Internode" and Bambusa Guangxiensis). I planted Bambusa Maligensis "Seabreeze" and Dendrocalamus Latiflorus towards the SE corner, and am getting a Dendrocalamus Maroochy to go along that area too. I'm hoping the combo of bamboo and viburnum will cut down the highway noise enough to make it okay back there.

[abborean]

We grow bamboo here in SE NC also. It makes a great barrier and is not so invasive in the newly erupted stage that it can't be mowed or kicked over if it comes up where it shouldn't be.

[Stan]

I like the meandering paths. One thing you might bust the budget on is...have them drop some huge boulders in a loose pile,fill in around with dirt and gravel over that.

[Bananaguy]

Looking really good and see you have some banana plants, Chinese yellow and can’t see what others are. Love Florida. Check out Earthworks in Jacksonville they are great people and have some awesome stuff.

[Merlyn2220]

Yeah the bamboos are new to me, previously I'd only dealt with running bamboo that were super-aggressive. The ones I've picked are all relatively tight clumpers, so it shouldn't be too much of a problem to control them. The only one I'm concerned about are a couple of the Dendrocalamus. I'm getting one from Tropical Bamboo called D. Maximuslamina, which some people say grows to 50-65' and 4" culms. But others say 115' and 7-12" diameter...yikes!

My wife really wanted the paths, they are a pain to build but easier to maintain than grass! I haven't put down pavers and rock yet, since I'm not convinced that they are in their final position yet.

I do want to get a couple of small boulders to put in the agave bed, I just haven't figured out where or what color. There's a local place called Pebble Junction that sells a variety of stone for about $400 per ton. That's 5lb per dollar, so I could get a few 50lb rocks pretty cheap.

[Merlyn2220]

Oh yeah, I forgot about the bananas. I did have two clusters of yellow Chinese bananas and 8 or 9 of the giant red false abyssinian bananas (Ensete Maurelii). They grew great for about a year and then all developed crown rot last summer. Digging them all out was a serious pain!

I have a lot of other bananas that are doing great, including generic Dwarf Cavendish, Saba, Ice Cream, Thai Black, Truly Tiny, Little Prince, Namwah, Goldfinger, Basjoo, Kandarian, Bordelon and Mekong Giant. Ice Cream is my most prolific grower, I had one 6" plant in the summer of 2018 and now have 6 fullsize plants and another 6 or so offsets that are growing fast even in the winter.

[Bananaguy]

Well that’s a nice list of bananas. In NC I have all the ones you listed and a few others. Lost several types in our polar vortex and don’t think I’m getting them again and just going to concentrate on fruiting ones I have. Poor plants have been divided and uprooted 7 times in several years but always get fruit every year and won’t be moved ever again so should get back to being huge again.

[Merlyn2220]

With the return of warm weather I've been busy planting out my new agave bed area, and have added a whopping 37 new agaves to the bed and 2 more to the front yard. Here's the new layout on the NW corner. I added Mangave "Blue Dart," Titanota "Red Catweazle," a Filifera x Isthmensis, "Snow Glow," Bovicornuta, Shawill and Americana "Marshmallow Creme." My second attempt at buying a "Guiengola Creme Brulee" turned out to be a Macroacantha "Blue Ribbon" in the right lower side. I also have a somewhat unknown Agave that I'll have to post a better photo for ID. I bought it as "Dragon Toes" but it's very different from the others I have. I'm thinking it could be "Confederate Rose" or a hybrid of some sort. It's one of my favorites, so I wish it would throw a few pups out! I moved the Ovatifolia out of the dirt circle area, and will find something small to put in that spot.

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To the East I added a "Mad Cow" Bovicornuta x Colorata to go along with "Crazy Horse" and a regular Bovicornuta. I'm going to find a "Crazy Cowlick" Mangave to put in there too, just to fill out the Insane Bovine Posse area. I moved the Ovatifolia "Frosty Blue" over to near the "streambed" and added a Verdensis (or Delamateri?) from Ron, a Parryi Huachucensis next to the Truncata, an Attenuata "Ray of Light" and a Parrasana "Fireball."

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Moving one more step to the East I moved the big Bluebell Giants to the center of the new bed area. I have no idea how big it'll get, but it appears to be throwing tons of pups and is the fastest agave I own. So I'm leaving some clearance around it...maybe. In this area I added a Parrasana "Meat Claw," an Attenuata "Kara's Stripes," a Mangave "Lavender Lady," and a chunky Salmiana "Tall & Narrow" offset from Ron. In the background on the upper right I planted a Wercklei, Valenciana and Ferocactus Latispinus in the upper bed. Back on the left I added a Marmorata and Franzosinii, and moved a Gentryi "Jaws" (maybe) from the front yard.

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[Merlyn2220]

On the North tip of the new point there is now a Weberi "Arizona Star," a Sharkskin, a Mangave "Mission to Mars," a Dianita and Weberi Striata from Ron, a Havardiana "Glass Mountains form" and a Gigantensis (the "real" one from Greg Starr).

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Around the other side you can see a different view of most of the above-named agaves. I'll probably have to move the Kissho Kan when it gets swallowed by the Ovatifolia Vanzie...

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In the front yard I had the Gentryi "Jaws" (maybe) and I dug that up to put it in the back. It's still pretty small but does have the big red teeth of "Jaws," so I'll see if it keeps them as it gets larger. I replaced it with an Asperrima v. Zarcensis from Ron, and placed it in the front yard around a Canary Island Date Palm along with a "Mr. Ripple-ish" hybrid and a suspected Asperrima v. Zarcensis & Gentryi hybrid that I got from Etsy. With the unlabeled Americanas at the bottom of the picture it'll make a sort of "Texas hybrids" area. I might have to put a Gentryi back up there to fill out the collection.

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[Meangreen94z]

Nice, Let me know how the Asperrima ssp. Zarcensis works out in Florida. For me they seem one of the less wet tolerant Asperrima. Havardiana hasn’t done well either. I kept my larger Gigantensis under cover. I had an earlier seedling from Greg Starr that didn’t care for our rains. If yours does well I may try to give it more exposure time.

[Merlyn2220]

So far the only agave that has not liked it here is the Durango Fandango from PDN. This is apparently a Schidigera x Flexispina cross and it only seems to want to hold onto a couple of good leaves, the old ones rot away really early. I yanked it from the bed and put it in a pot with really well draining mostly-inorganic soil, we'll see how it does later.

I have three Havardiana with two in the ground. One is the "regular form" that I planted last fall and it seems to be fine through the sorta rainy winter. I'll keep an eye on it and Starr's Gigantensis. The Asperrima v. Zarcensis is in a spot that gets hit with an overhead sprinkler every morning, so hopefully it'll be okay with that. If not I'll have to find another location for my "Texas hybrids" area away from the yard sprinklers.

[Gee.S]

No agave is going to tolerate getting hit with an overhead sprinkler every morning.

[Meangreen94z]

Yeah I agree, I would put it in a drier area. It won’t benefit from extra water. Americana, Weberi, Attenuata, and a few hybrids like “Blue Glow” seem unfazed by any amount of water. Most other Agave appreciate intense sunlight over rain.

[Merlyn2220]

I probably should have been more specific on the sprinkler. It's a single long-distance one that shoots over the top of the CIDP, that zone runs 30 minutes each morning. I've put a glass out next to the Asperrima to see how much actual water it gets in tomorrow morning's run cycle. My guess is that it's the equivalent of a light sprinkle, but I'll see. I've been thinking about switching that head out for a short range to just hit the grass to the left of the photo, but I'd need to dig a new irrigation line to put another head near the driveway to get the rest of the area.

If the Asperrima can't handle a light morning sprinkle then it's definitely not going to like the daily torrential afternoon thunderstorms from May to October. I've got another spot that's drier, I could probably move a variegated Sisalana somewhere else. It's got richer soil there, but I could dig it out a bit and refill with coarse sand & perlite to get it to drain better. That's worked well for the raised bed in the back with the other ~66 agaves in that bed.

[Gee.S]

Any succulent that isn't allowed to thoroughly dry between waterings will eventually die of rot.

[abborean]

We get about 60 inches of rain per year here in SE NC. No sprinklers in this area unless you have a manicured lawn on sand. Your winters are much warmer in Orlando but am thinking your rain is comparable. You might save some water (or pump time) by only watering when you are in drought conditions.

[Merlyn2220]

Here's a winter update on my agaves: the species that really dislike it here are Victoria-Reginae (100% death rate), Asperrima (50% death rate), Parryi (all struggle except for "JC Raulston" so far), Havardiana and Parrasana and Nickelsiae (struggling but still alive). Asperrima and V-R seem to slowly decline over time before dying. The others did well until October, when the temperatures dropped but the rain kept coming. I suspect that they were okay in the summer because it was hot enough during the day to dry out the upper layers of soil. When the temps dropped 10 degrees the top layer of soil stayed damp and caused rapid rotting of the lower leaves. Some of these might do okay in a pot with very little organics, but not in the ground here. Gentryi and Americana do fine here even in non-amended soil, and the common Asperrima hybrids with those two also do fine.

The other ~250 in the ground have all done pretty well, most of them are growing quickly with no unusual rotting or lower leaf loss. We did have 36F and frost here 2 weeks ago and the Weberi "Arizona Star" got some edema spotting. I may have to move it under my Pygmy Date palm to give it a bit of frost protection. The other Weberi (Striata and regular) didn't seem to mind. @Meangreen94z the Gigantensis from Greg Starr is doing really well and went from 3" to 15" this summer.

I finished building a new agave/aloe/cycad area yesterday, in the center of my backyard. It's about 30 feet to the right of the main large agave bed from previous posts. I dug up the whole area and mixed in a 2cuft bag of perlite, 50lb of Turface MVP and 2 bags of coarse paver grit (crushed limestone) to make sure it drains well.

Cycads: The Dioons and Encephalartos were planted there previously, and they make a nice backdrop for the succulents. Eventually they'll get 6' diameter (or bigger) and I'll have to "edit" some stuff out.

Cacti: I'm trying a couple on the left side, a Pilosocereus Azureus, two unknown "freebie" columnar types, and a "Crazy Bunny Ears."

Aloes: Near the front I put in an Aloe Congolensis, "Carmine," "Christmas Carol," Dorotheae, Cameronii, "AJR" and "Ghost." Towards the back is a cluster of Aloe Maculata. These did really well in a 1g pot in the front yard, just sitting on the ground. They overflowed out of the pot in all directions and didn't mind the rain. Offsets of Carmine and Christmas Carol did great in the ground here all summer, so I'm hopeful that they can handle the rain without rotting.

Agaves: I put a bunch of MeanGreen94z's plants here, including Attenuata, Blue Flame, Parvidentata, Impressa and Baccarat. I'm trying a "Pokey Ghost" from MikeyDude in the ground, but he warned me that it's not too rain-tolerant so I might have to pull it and plant it elsewhere with full sun and in a more raised spot. On the left is an "Ovatispina Blue Rapture" that I hope will do well. The "Ovatisana" in my other bed suffered this fall, probably due to the Parrasana side of the hybrid. All my Ovatifolia have done great. My "Flexidigera Durango Fandango" is still alive but I'm not sure if the poor growth in the FL sauna is due to the Flexispina side or Schidigera side, or both. So I hope that Ovatifolia x Flexispina will tolerate the rain! The center Gentryi-ish is from my grandparent's place in Texas, and I added a few Mangaves and a Hansara "Jumping Jacks" to add a splash of color.

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