Agave ×'Royal Spine'

[Gee.S]

Agave ×'Royal Spine' = A. macroacantha × A. victoriae-reginae

A. ×'Royal Spine'

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[Gee.S]

[Melt in the Sun]

From a 10-leafer in a 3" pot to bursting out of a 12" in 6 years. The first photo is after I'd already had it for nearly a year; the second is from this morning. This hybrid was the first agave I ever was really excited to search out and find, after seeing photos of it online...it kicked off the addiction for me.

It really needs to get out of this pot (same one for 6 years) but I don't have a suitably prominent spot to show it off in the ground until some other stuff blooms next year.

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[bigdaddyscondition]

Here is the Agave x 'Royal Spine' colony in my back yard, planted 8-10 years ago.

[Melt in the Sun]

Wow....awesome!

[Azuleja]

Most impressive! They're very striking in such a well grown clump.

[Melt in the Sun]

I put this in the ground last spring, and after a rough summer it has finally settled into its new digs...looking good! It's interesting that the plants GS and I have posted are banded, but BDC's plants are not.

[bigdaddyscondition]

Looking good, Melt. Your plant seems to have adapted to your desert environment. I can't explain the banding and lack thereof in different specimens. I seem to recall some controversy about the provenance of 'Royal Spine'. Maybe the banded leaves retain some of the white leaf marking tendency of the original cross of A. victoriae-reginae.

[Melt in the Sun]

I bet our conditions are pretty similar..."inland empire foothills" being Riverside or somewhere similar?

It makes me wonder if we actually have siblings - a similar situation to that of 'Sharkskin', where a particular cross is (incorrectly) assigned a cultivar name. Mine came from TC via Greg Starr (from Allen Repashy who introduced the plant), but IIRC Allen bought a bunch of similar seed-grown plants and may have sold some of those under the same name.

If I could talk you into pulling a pup from yours, I'd be very grateful.....

[bigdaddyscondition]

I'd be happy to share a pup. Just let me know how you want it transferred to you. My specimens are all in my yard in San Antonio Heights, at 2,100 feet in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains (San Bernardino County).

I can't remember where I got my Royal Spine. Maybe Rancho Soledad Nursery.

[Agavemonger]

Banding seems to almost always be generally related to hot, Low Desert Environments, where watering patterns alternate with extreme heat. It is very rare to see any banding on plants in Southern California, even in hot inland valleys. Of course, in Palm Springs, Borrego Springs, El Centro and other Low Desert areas that mimic the conditions seen in the Valley of the Sun and Tucson, one could expect to see banding on plants there. It seems to me that conditions that routinely have temperatures consistently well over 110 degrees fahrenheit are more likely to create the dramatic banding on cultivated plants that tend to show banding in habitat. It seems likely that wet conditions from watering, alternating with extreme heat and low humidity, somehow creates this banding by affecting the speed of growth and the production of glaucous powder on the leaves, which seems somehow related to these alternating extremes. Extremely high overnight minimum low temperatures may also be likely to play an important role, as Agaves do most of their growing during nighttime hours.

I would think that the same clones that routinely show banding in Low Desert conditions would be highly unlikely to show banding here in Southern California Coastal and Inland Valley areas, although there could certainly be very rare occasional exceptions. I have never been able to create banding on plants in San Diego, and I don't recall ever seeing banded plants here. No matter how perfectly or imperfectly grown, plants like Agave zebra and Agave colorata, etc., always seem to be just straight blue in coloration with no sign whatsoever of banding. Even in big blocks of several hundred plants, I have never seen even one with any semblance of dramatic banding in Southern California. Perhaps plants could be forced into very slight banding here by alternating heavy watering with torturing the plants with drought, but I think one would be more likely to simply create stressed out, un-healthy plants.

I don't believe that banding has much to do with "clonal selections" that are "more-or-less" prone to banding, but has everything to do with the conditions stated in the two paragraphs above.

The Monger

[Melt in the Sun]

Well, BDC is going to send me one of his babies...I'll plant it right next to mine and report back in a couple years!

I just noticed the Furcraea right behind the clump! If that's been there more than one summer, then I guess our conditions aren't quite the same. I always think of inland LA being very similar to Tucson, but I really should scrub that mental image.

[bigdaddyscondition]

I was leery of planting that Furcrea macdougalii because of the genus's reputed lack of hardiness. But so far, so good. We haven't had a bitter frost here in the I.E. foothills for several years. There is an older, potted F. mac at the entrance to the Los Angeles Arboretum, which is more or less in the same San Gabriel foothills climate as me. So maybe mine will live long and prosper, too.

[Agavemonger]

Inland Southern California Valleys can certainly get quite warm, and occasionally very hot, with temperatures pushing over 100 degrees fahrenheit happening at least a couple of times a year. However, even during heat spells, there is usually only a couple of days of temperatures over 100 degrees, then it is back down into the 90's and high 80's. It never gets anywhere near as consistently hot as the low deserts, and our nighttime minimum lows are only rarely above the high 60's, and if so, only for a day or two. We rarely have afternoon "monsoon-like" thunderstorms that are typical in Low Desert Summers, maybe only for a day or two each summer outside of the mountains.

Palm Springs, Borrego Springs, El Centro, etc. are altogether different in the summer, with Tucson or Phoenix-like conditions far more common. The Low Desert Areas of Southern California often get "spill-over" monsoon conditions from Southern Arizona, and these areas are certainly every bit as consistently hot as Southern Arizona, with similar hot over-night low minimums being the norm.

The Monger

[KLC]

Banding seems to almost always be generally related to hot, Low Desert Environments, where watering patterns alternate with extreme heat. It is very rare to see any banding on plants in Southern California, even in hot inland valleys. Of course, in Palm Springs, Borrego Springs, El Centro and other Low Desert areas that mimic the conditions seen in the Valley of the Sun and Tucson, one could expect to see banding on plants there. It seems to me that conditions that routinely have temperatures consistently well over 110 degrees fahrenheit are more likely to create the dramatic banding on cultivated plants that tend to show banding in habitat. It seems likely that wet conditions from watering, alternating with extreme heat and low humidity, somehow creates this banding by affecting the speed of growth and the production of glaucous powder on the leaves, which seems somehow related to these alternating extremes. Extremely high overnight minimum low temperatures may also be likely to play an important role, as Agaves do most of their growing during nighttime hours.

I would think that the same clones that routinely show banding in Low Desert conditions would be highly unlikely to show banding here in Southern California Coastal and Inland Valley areas, although there could certainly be very rare occasional exceptions. I have never been able to create banding on plants in San Diego, and I don't recall ever seeing banded plants here. No matter how perfectly or imperfectly grown, plants like Agave zebra and Agave colorata, etc., always seem to be just straight blue in coloration with no sign whatsoever of banding. Even in big blocks of several hundred plants, I have never seen even one with any semblance of dramatic banding in Southern California. Perhaps plants could be forced into very slight banding here by alternating heavy watering with torturing the plants with drought, but I think one would be more likely to simply create stressed out, un-healthy plants.

I don't believe that banding has much to do with "clonal selections" that are "more-or-less" prone to banding, but has everything to do with the conditions stated in the two paragraphs above.

The Monger

In a nutshell, that's what I said recently. I was called out for suggesting such a ridiculous explanation. Be careful Monger.

[MaryH]

One of my favorites in my collection...

[Melt in the Sun]

Farking running bugs can do a lot of damage quickly! Nevertheless - as Allen Repashy (the guy who introduced it) said, this is a supermodel of a plant.

[Gee.S]

Agave 'Royal Spine'

[bigdaddyscondition]

Nice looking Royal Spine, Gee. I'm impressed that this cultivar stands up so well to Phoenix-area sun and temps.

[Gee.S]

Nice looking Royal Spine, Gee. I'm impressed that this cultivar stands up so well to Phoenix-area sun and temps.

Thanks! It's isn't necessarily in their comfort zone, but they can be carefully acclimated to our extreme summer sun with excellent results. The biggest issue I have with 'em is as rabbit/rat food. Stiff leaves w/no marginals places them very high on the preferred menu list.