Agaveville

I’ve been eyeing this Macrozamia moorei for 6 years at a nursery south of Houston. Back then the price tag had already disintegrated but showed $4XX. I stopped by this weekend to look around. The fronds had burned from January’s freeze but showed green at the base . It survived 2021 as did specimen in Austin so I wasn’t too worried. I inquired what would they let it go for given its length of stay and questionable health. The manager stated she thought it was dead but a 30 gallon container costs them $10. So I bought the $10 container that came with a dead plant.

Oh boy!

A steal! Its plenty alive.

Back from the dead.

I had to chisel through a few layers of limestone, but it’s in the ground.

Great deal, congrats!

To be honest, i would have told Carol that it is probably still alive

amsterdam wrote: ↑Mon May 06, 2024 3:47 am To be honest, i would have told Carol that it is probably still alive

That’s how the conversation started. I told them it appeared to be still alive , but there was no guarantee how well it would recover. That and they had the plant in their inventory for probably 10 years or more. The manager told me she thought it was dead, or at a minimum they couldn’t guarantee it would recover. They offered it for the price of the container, I didn’t argue. I originally wasn’t expecting that large of a discount.

Here it is now. I covered it with a canvas tarp when we dropped to 27°F(-2.8°C) with a hard frost. We are possibly dropping into the teens next week, so there may be no way to save the fronds this year.

Unfortunately no more. It collapsed in the center late last summer . I gave it a chance to do something but pulled on it today and it fell apart.

Reading all the posts how this plant survived a very hard time, it's very unfortunate that it is no more. But what could have caused it to die at the end of summers? Very high temperature or very high precipitation or something else?

Still, did you keep the pot?

RCDS66 wrote: ↑Thu Apr 16, 2026 9:52 pm Reading all the posts how this plant survived a very hard time, it's very unfortunate that it is no more. But what could have caused it to die at the end of summers? Very high temperature or very high precipitation or something else?

Yes it had been hot and dry, then we had intense rain in July for 3-4 days. It was soon after that it collapsed. I guess it was mid summer, vs. end of summer.

I have problems with the heat extending into September and October killing South American barrel cactus . Denmoza rhodacantha, Helianthocereus bruchii , always seem to cook right around that time of year (if exposed). I find they appreciate the shade of tree and do fine even in our extreme cold weather. I didn’t protect either of those species this winter and they didn’t show any burn.

Paul S wrote: ↑Fri Apr 17, 2026 12:12 am Still, did you keep the pot?

I think I still have it. I flip large containers over certain Agave, cacti, palms etc. when we get extreme weather .