Funnily enough the guy has just emailed me! he reckons it has been there 25/30 years which, if correct, predates my one. Had it not been cut back at some point it may have been colossal! Some weird things on Canvey Island - couple of champion palms, one just round the corner from where this cactus i...

There's no 'if' - heat is lost by the ground. Any type of barrier can mitigate this to one extent or another - bubblewrap, newspaper, foil blankets. Even a layer of small children, although I see those more as a heat source. And 'this type of carry on' is something else entirely - protecting the gro...

The theory behind its efficacy is; since the ground is almost always warmer than the air on cold nights, the warmer temperature can be trapped underneath the cloth. The reason behind the use of stakes is to keep the vegetation away from the cold air. As I understand it, exactly this. On a small sca...

Small children? Probably. Might go through 2 or 3 on the coldest nights.

I find newspaper crumpled into sausage shapes and looped around the pads works OK

Something to consider with havardiana is that it doesn’t tolerate wet winter conditions anywhere near as well as ovatifolia. They are very cold tolerant, but where they grow in Texas/Coahuila (also Chihuahua if I remember right) is much drier than the Sierra Lampazos where ovatifolia occurs. This, ...

Those type of plants are not my thing but, wow, what beautifully grown and presented agaves!

That is a good, dark-spined form -lovely.

They are actually pretty cold tolerant if dry. I've been trying plants for years as and when I have been able to get them and finally hit on a good spot at the base of a palm that keeps the weather off it - came through my last winter.

Tina wrote: ↑Fri Nov 24, 2023 6:53 am Any suggestions plz & no they are not echeveria Paul

I'd say the second one is either A. humilis or a hybrid of it.

Stuart wrote: ↑Wed Nov 22, 2023 10:19 am Some interesting Echeverias there.

Stuart