Agave parryi cv. Cream Spike

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1 Agave parryi cv. Cream Spike December 2015

2 Chairperson s thoughts 8 December, at last, and by now all yours plants should be in their Winter quarters, dried out and waiting for Spring. Apart from the winter growers, which you have to give slightly different treatment to. I still have a few Delospermas, Echeverias and Sedums outside but even they are under cover from the rain. It has been relentless in the past week and I have to express my extreme sympathy for all those people flooded out in the Lake District. Our part of the UK has some endless grey weather but fortunately never seems to suffer the extremes that other parts of the country have to suffer. So look forward to the New Year and the beginning of the growing season and longer, sunnier days. Providing your plants survive whatever the weather throws at us during winter,the buds that have formed will be opening. It is time to sow the seeds that you have ordered from the seed list that came out with December s journal. I have sent off for mine and am now eagerly waiting to see what I get. Don t forget that 2016 is a National Show year, so whilst you are thinking about your plants and seeds, give a thought to anything you consider good enough to be entered into this every four years event. Once the plants are back in growth you will be able to give them that extra bit of TLC that will ensure they are in the best possible condition. Do think seriously about going to this rare event, it is a busy, plant filled one. An opportunity to catch up with people you may not have seen for a long time and buy some plants that you may not have had been able to buy before. Plenty of wonderful plants will be exhibited, too. For the last show, I think about half the branch must have gone and quite a few put in entries. It is quite a long way but for once every four years something to seriously aim for. That just leaves me to say a very Merry Christmas and a good growing New Year to everyone. Elizabeth Alan Hart Our Branch, the BCSS and many other people were much saddened when, in October, they learned of the death of Alan Hart a relatively short time after his illness was diagnosed. Alan had been connected with our Branch and its activities over many years. In 1968 when Macclesfield and East Cheshire hosted the then 2

3 Northern Area Show Alan represented Chester on the organising committee. At the Show he won a cup for an entry of three Rebutias. Over subsequent years Alan visited the Branch as a speaker on a number of occasions and was present at our Annual Show several times to judge it and more times when he supported us as a visitor. When Zones 5 and 19 collaborated to stage an exhibit at the first Tatton Park Show in 1999 Alan both contributed plants and shared in the staffing for the first few years. In 2010, Alan became more than a friend of the Branch following the closure, the previous year, of Mid Cheshire and their members joined with us. We now had a Fellow of the BCSS in our ranks. At this stage Alan did not play an active part in Branch affairs but enjoyed the meetings and we thoroughly enjoyed chatting with him. Alan had a mixed well grown collection with including choice succulent plants and South African bulbs. Speakers visiting the area would always look forward to fitting in a call to see Alan and his plants. A fuller obituary will appear in the March Journal and I will simply sum up Alan as knowledgeable, friendly, helpful and someone we will all miss. A is for Agave By Elizabeth Maddock I got my first Agave, Agave americana variegata, over 50 years ago and have moved on since then and acquired a lot more. Some people love them and some people think they are nothing but trouble, as they have incredibly sharp terminal spines, grow too big and are even more of a nuisance when they flower. Then they get too tall for most greenhouses and prove a big headache to deal with in winter. This is undeniable if you grow some of the huge growing ones, all of the above is true but they have a fascination for those that love them. Fortunately some are slightly more accommodating and it helps to know what you are dealing with. Agaves fall into two distinct types, subgenus Littaea, which have long spiked inflorescences that grow up then bend over and look like a tube. The other is subgenus Agave, which has the well-known inflorescence which looks like a branched tree. There are also several subcategories which cover leaf thickness, horny margins and marginal teeth of leaf edgings, imprinting by new leaves, soft, succulent leaves and several other characteristics but you can look these up if you wish to. The subgenus Littaea includes such well-known ones as A. albipilosa, attenuata, filifera, geminiflora, parviflora, stricta and toumeyana. Some beautiful and unique ones here, with markings, hairs or textures different enough to mark them out as highly collectible. Also A. horrida, lophantha, titanota, victoria-reginae and utahensis are worthy of mention in this subgenus, as being both well-known and among the most notable. A. 3

4 parviflora, toumeyana and victoria-reginae have distinctive white markings on their leaves, which make them very attractive and desirable. Subgenus Agave has some very large species, such as, A. americana, gentryi, montana, salmiana, shawii, sisalana and tequilana. These should not necessarily be avoided but grown with a knowledge that they can grow huge given the right conditions and will have to be dealt with once they grow too big for your accommodation. There are also some choice species within the smaller group within this subgenus. A. colorata, guadalajarana, parrasana, parryi and potatorum are particular favourites of mine, notable for their spines, sculptural shape and colour. There are many others and a look in one or two of the recent books on Agaves would certainly whet your appetite for more, as there are some absolute gems among them, even if they are a little large. The same books would doubtless swing some of the waverers, too. There have been a lot of hybrids developed of late, mostly by the Japanese who love to experiment and develop the most extreme hybrids that anyone could wish, which emphasise colour, hairiness, terminal spines and horniness of edges. Many are variegated, which adds interest to their overall look. Yet the plain species have much to offer, with beautiful powdery colour (A. parryi v. truncata Huntington ), fantastical spines (A. utahensis v. eborispina), incredibly toothed and horny leafedges (A. horrida subsp horrida) and hairy (A. filifera subsp. multifilifera or subsp. schidigera). These are some of the more extreme, desirable species and something to search out for. Provided you don t collect the much more tender Caribbean species,which are not well known in the UK, Agaves are not, generally, very hard to cultivate. I put them in my normal mix of John Innes no.2 with about 50% grit to ensure excellent drainage. I tend to put the smaller ones in clay pots until they grow into a good sized plant, so that they do not suffer with too much water. Once they have reached the size of needing a 20cm pot they can go into plastic pots and can withstand the rain we get when outside in summer. I like to put them outside in summer, as they benefit from the rain and whatever good light we can produce in this country. Being outside they are much less likely to scorch, although 4 Agave potatorum

5 you have to be careful when they first come out of the shelter of the greenhouse, they need to harden off and watch out for hailstones. If the summer develops into one of our very wet ones, it would probably be preferable to take them back into the greenhouse, although the bigger ones should be fine. They will need to be brought in well before winter, so that they can dry out. Once dried out they can endure the cold of our winters. There are those who experiment with growing them outside and there are some very tough ones but it is better to experiment with spares and ones that are renowned for their ability to withstand UK winters. In this part of the UK, I would think it unwise to grow any outside, as our winters are so wet and can be extremely cold. Agaves are mercifully fairly free from pests, I don t think I have ever seen a mealy-bug on mine and outside the snails and slugs don t bother them. Take care of them and study them closely, they have a great beauty in the leaf imprints on A. potatorum, spines of A. parrasana and guadalajarana, leaf-edge spines A. titanota and horrida, the white leaf-markings of A victoria-reginae, parviflora and toumeyana and the overall striking shape of all of them. I have yet to have one flower, as the ones I have are not large enough, yet, to produce flowers. I know from what I hear from other growers that producing flowers is a problem, as the flower spikes are so tall and take months to grow to their full height. It often means that the flower spike is being produced over winter, when you least need a tall plant that will not fit in your greenhouse. There are ways round this, a temporary height extension to your greenhouse is one, finding alternative accommodation is another or more drastically taking off the flower spike, an extreme measure that I would be very reluctant to do. If you grow these beautiful plants, you have to take on the problems and enjoy them as well. Do try them, they are statuesque and sculptural. The small ones are just as good as the big ones and the variegated ones add another dimension to the enjoyment of these wonderful plants. Shiso Ito no Ohi 5 lophanthe Quadricolor

6 A few weeks ago I was thinking about writing something for the Newsletter about an Agave I had when I received Elizabeth s piece, beautifully illustrated with images of choice, well cared for plants. However, I thought I would continue with my plan since my plant was different beacause I had grown it from seed, it was not particularly choice, it was scruffy, it had been neglected, it was not the species I thought it was and it had flowered for me this year. I thought I was growing Agave parviflora but when I saw the flowers I checked in the literature and consulted an expert (thank you Derek Bowdery) I learned that the reddish flowers were characteristic of A. polyanthiflora. The plant is getting on for 20 years old and usually spends the summer outdoors and is rarely repotted. This year it had overwintered, as usual, under the staging but in such an obscure corner that I didn t spot it in late spring and omitted to put it outside. It had probably been watered by drips from the watering and spraying of the plants up top and I only discovered it when I noticed a flower stem about 15cm high in early August. The plant was put outside to do its best in what was left of the summer sun and rain. Its best amounted to flowers on about a 50cm stem from late August to late September. No seed was set and the species is reputed to produce no offsets so I guess it will now be departing this life but I don t know how long that will take. If it is still green I l give it another pot in the spring. I now know that in the vegetative state this species is awkward to distinguish from A. parviflora and that I should have been paying more attention the the BCSS Website because it was the plant of the month in June 2013 and the the picture there was accompanied by useful comments from Geoff Bowman from Gloucester who has the National Collection of Agaves. Alasdair 6

7 Garden Village Festival In early summer we received an invitation to stage a promotional/sales stand at the above event in Wythenshawe to be held in the Shopping Precinct there in September. No fee would be charged and cover and staging would be provided. In the September Newsletter Elizabeth said another public relations exercise and should be seen as such. Like Poynton it will be good fun to do and quite satisfying as well. Even more important it makes contact with those who are interested in our plants and need some assistance and are potential members.. She was right. She and I put up a small exhibit alongside nine other groups in the garden related section and very much enjoyed our day. There was convenient car access to the precinct for build up/break down an free parking in the adjoining multistorey car park. There were lots of interesting people to meet, advise and chat with. Potting demos by Elizabeth attracted onlookers and the weather was fine. The bottom line was Yes, we would do it again Alasdair 7

8 Forthcoming attractions 11th January BCSS slides - Collections USA - Photographs by the late Sonia Barker- Fricker. Sonia was well travelled, an excellent speaker and photographer and a very likeable and popular person who, sadly, died very prematurely. She was always a very welcome visitor to the branch. Some Society slide collections have not been too great but this one should be really worthwhile. 8th February The AGM has come round again and what is going to be the additional attraction? Same as last year, a plant bring and buy auction for branch funds and you are invited to bring a couple of good quality plants for auctioning. Past successful auctions have been founded on members being kind enough to bring plants that they themselves would be happy to bid for if someone else had brought them. Please keep up the tradition. 14th March Lobivias - Martin Lowry When this talk was arranged it was probably envisiaged that Martin would be travelling over from Hull. However, Martin now lives in Macclesfield and he is a member of the branch. There are not many people who know more about Lobivias than Martin so we could call the March meeting a masterclass. Show news. The 2016 Show will be on July 10th and we learn from Judith and David that on significant change is that uniformity of prize money across the horticultural section is to be introduced. The effect of this on the Cactus and Succulent Section is that first prize will be 2 and the others scaled down in proportion. Graham Walker from Guisborough has been booked as Judge. 8