BCSS - Forum

As we now know Montana's are very worthy and well suited to growing in our climate. I have two doing very well

So naturally when I saw a variant for sale, my interest was piqued. However, with the current trend to invent names to sell plants does anyone have any knowledge of this Blue Ocean hybrid? Paul?
Here's a picture I found from France , Worth a punt?

Thanks
Wayne

Hi Wayne.
I've seen this cultivar come up in discussion before on another forum. It isn't one I had heard of until then but, from the pictures I have seen, it is clearly a cultivar of Agave gentryi not montana.

The source of a lot of these new fancy named agaves in the USA is Plant Delights nursery - they tissue culture the heck out of every single slight variation then flood the market with ridiculously named plants. And they have a different understanding of what Agave montana looks like to the rest of the agave growing world, confusing it with Agave gentryi. There is a plant they have sold for some years called Agave montana 'Baccarat', for example, which is about as perfect a form of Agave gentryi as you could wish to see. Agave 'Ocean Blue' looks to me to be very similar.

So having got that out of the way some forms of Agave gentryi - especially the wider leafed forms like this one and 'Baccarat' - are superlative plants and well worth growing.

Just found this pic I took of 'Baccarat' growing in a garden in Oxfordshire. I reckon 'Ocean Blue' will end up very similar.

Thanks Paul, I knew you'd come through

What attracted me was the blue-ish colouring, plus it has great form too.
I like it alot, so much so I've taken a punt Well its only a pup.

Now we're talking Agaves, what's your opinions on my other favourite Agave, the Ovatifolia and its variants. .
Such as Frosty Blue, La Huasteca Giant and recently Emerald .

Would be interested in views

Best Regards
Wayne

Ovatifolia

nice looking but gets very large, how much space do you have .
I keep getting tempted my Ovatifolia 'orca' a variegated form but I have been sensible soo far

Orca

Lets have some pictures. I'd have one and make the space if I could source one

Wayne

Well, since you ask..... .... there are a couple of factors at work here.

Agave ovatifolia was described from a single population on a single mountain top and access to the site is limited as it is private property. Seed was collected and distributed and the offspring show a decent amount of variability. Some of these have, themselves, flowered and set seed - Agave ovatifolia seems to turn around it's lifecycle fairly quickly in the right climate - and these also show variability. Nurserymen select some of these slightly different seedlings and multiply them by tissue culture so that they have large numbers of clones that are uniformly different, and then give them all fancy names so they can in fact sell the same species many times over. 'Frosty Blue', 'Lava Flow', 'Vanzie', 'Blue Dreams'. But if you sow a number of Agave ovatifolia seeds and you'll find plants like these.

Subsequently other agaves have been found at other locations 'near' to where Agave ovatifolia comes from - Huasteca being one that is around 170m further south - that bear a resemblance to Agave ovatifolia but not quite - like a half-way between Agave ovatifolia and A. parassana. These plants have entered the commercial loop before being properly investigated so what they actually are is anyone's guess. But rather than calling them Agave species Nova aff ovatifolia (for example) again they have been given nice catchy names and are being sold as different plants. 'Huasteca Giant' and 'Emerald' are amongst these plants - not confirmed as being Agave ovatifolia at all.

So while what they actually are is, in some cases, a mystery there is no denying they are nice plants.

Hi
try here from Plant delights, USA
https://www.plantdelights.com/apps/phot ... iffin-gdn2

That one doesn't look remotely like Ovatifolia, I've bought plants from Plant Delights in the US which were fine, nice healthy plants, though when I had some sent to the UK, they packed each one with large masses of soggy moss to keep the roots damp which cost me a fortune in shipping costs, the last thing Agaves need for shipping is soaking wet roots. As they mainly sell non-succulent garden plants I assume the packing staff didn't know what they were doing when it came to shipping succulents.
Stuart

Cheers Paul, much appreciated.

As much as its very annoying dealing with marketing gimmicks.
Ultimately it about whether it would look great in your garden and if it turns out like the one in the picture, Then happy days

As we are on thread about Agaves, iIm drawn to anything with a blue tinge. In everyone's experience what blue/bluish Agave have you enjoyed growing in our climate.
For me my little Ovatifolia in its 2nd year stands out

and Agave Weberi, now correctly identified
I have a few Agave Parryi variants that could show those bluish traits.

Would appreciate your pictures and opinions.
Thanks

Wayne