Contents
of the Spring 2014 Northants News
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Agave
victoriae-reginae
Tina
Wardhaugh
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Agave
victoriae-reginae -
Why we should all grow one
Agave
victoria-reginae,
or Agave
victoriae-reginae
subsp. victoriae-reginae,
to give it its correct full current title, is probably the most popular agave in
collections. It has been in cultivation for well over 130 years.
This
species was first described in 1875 by Thomas Moore, who said that ‘this
remarkably distinct species of Agave
was first seen in public at the International Exhibition held in Cologne in
September last’ (i.e. in 1874). He went on to say that ‘the name adopted by
Mr. Peacock has been given by the express permission of Her Majesty the Queen’
(Moore, 1875).
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It
is
a very slow growing attractive Agave which is considered to be one of the
most beautiful and desirable species.
It’s found in habitat in Nuevo Leon, Coahuila and Durango, Mexico.
Normally a solitary individual
but some will offset heavily when young. It grows up to 45cm in diameter
but this size does take a long time to achieve so it will be a long time
before it outgrows its welcome; if you keep it underpotted it will take
longer to attain full size.
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Agave
victoriae-reginae
‘Green’
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Agave
victoriae-reginae
'Compacta’ |
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My
first agave was an A.
victoriae-reginae that
I purchased more than 23 years ago, it’s in a 12 inch pan; I was lucky that
this plant is actually a green/pale green ‘Marginata’ form. Cultivation wise
they are easy to keep and young plants grow best if they are regularly repotted
and given plenty of water when in good growth, it’s surprising how much water
they will take up. Mine have a light feed very often during the summer; I use
Chempak No 8 low nitrogen feed at about half the recommended dilution. They will
happily grow in greenhouses at 5oC, it’s best if they are kept on
the drier side if you keep them at this low temperature. The majority of my
agave collection is housed in a 20 X10 ft. greenhouse with the temperature set
at 10 oC.
As
the British weather is so variable, and I grow a lot of variegated agaves, I
keep the bubble wrap up in the ‘agave end’ all year as I have sometimes had
variegated agaves scorch when we have had a sunny day after several grey days;
it’s just not worth the risk for me to remove it.
I
have many forms of A.
victoriae-reginae with
the larger portion of my collection being variegated, some have
cultivar
names official and unofficial; there are white, yellow, pale green marginated
forms and yellow, white mediopicta forms and even one which is a very rare
striated form.
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Agave
victoriae-reginae
‘Golden Prince’
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Agave
victoriae-reginae
‘Large Yellow ’ |
Agave
victoriae-reginae
‘Striata’
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I
also have two which are photosensitive forms which grow green during the winter
but once exposed to some sunlight you get random patches of variegation. All of
them are very beautiful and no collection is complete without one plant in your
greenhouse. If you like the really unusual then I even have a crested A.
victoriae-reginae which
is seriously ODD looking, as well as being very rare as agaves rarely have
crested or monstrose growth.
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Sourcing
variegated plants can be hard but if you get some offsets established from
your own plants you can normally find other agave enthusiasts to swap
with. Variegated agaves should come with a ‘wealth
warning‘
as once you have collected the normal easy/cheap to buy ones then you have
to resort to sourcing the more desirable forms which always cost more and
that’s if you can find someone who will part with them. I tend to go by
sight when I buy or swap as the naming of variegated agaves is very random
and few clones have official names apart from some of the ones from the
USA tissue culture company. |
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A
’photosensitive’ Agave which changes its colour depending on the
amount of sunlight.
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An
unusual cristate Agave VR.
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Problems
and pests for these plants are very few as they are very tough plants. They can
sometimes sulk for up to a year when repotted so when I do this I try to disturb
the root ball as little as possible so it’s potting on really.
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The
other problem I sometimes find with ‘Mediopicta’ forms is they are
very slow growers and more prone to leaf split (see picture), this seems
to be true of all variegated agaves and the mediopicta plants are the
slowest to grow and rarely offset so no swaps.
They
sometimes get root mealy but I tend to treat mine twice a year with
Provado vine weevil treatment just to be careful. I have had some unusual
brown marks that showed up on new growth which I have put down to Western
flower thrips (after advice) but I’m not positive. It was suggested that
this is the damage caused when they overwinter in the crown of agaves, it
only happened to a few plants.
All
in all a must have for the cactus connoisseur or even the Agave
addict.
Tina |
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A touch too much water and
the leaves split!
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Reference
Moore,T.
(1875) New garden plants. Agave
Victoriae Reginae sp. n.
Gard.
Chron., 4:
484−5.
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Ed:
Thanks Tina for the great pictures and article. Some most attractive
forms there but I am not sure about that cristate! I have a few Agaves
including some forms of A. victoriae-reginae
which
I enjoy and find very tolerant of my neglect. They have all been well
frozen on occasion though I hesitate to recommend this for the rare forms.
Looks like we can add split leaves to the broken spines as a fault when
judging these.
For
comparison here is the species in habitat in the Huasteca Canyon, near
Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, Mexico. We saw some superb plants of this
attractive species. Would it fit your greenhouse? The nearer plant is 63cm
across, (just over two feet), and there were some bigger. In the
background you can see Agave lechuguilla, probably the least
desirable Agave.
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Ernest
Hepworth F.R.H.S.
Doug
Rowland
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Before
he passed away Doug wrote this last piece as a filler. And guess what? It just
fills this space, (well on the printed page). Thanks Doug.
Over time, our society has produced
quite a number of characters. Chris Pitcher, who invented caudiciform plants,
and “Euphorbia” Young come to mind. In the mid 1960s Jimmy Machon and Harry
Smith arranged a visit to the Ernie Hepworth establishment. These were members
of the Cambridge branch. Jimmy working in printing in the city, Harry had been
part of air crew on Lancaster bombers during the war. Ernest used to advertise
in the journal and grew Lithops plants from seeds. Jim and Harry travelled to
the south of England and met Mr Hepworth. His garden was full of bric a brac,
with many old boots and shoes with the toe cut off sprouting Sempervivums as
‘toes’. Further into the garden Mr Hepworth had a large heated greenhouse
with a collection of South American, green, topical, tree frogs which Harry and
Jim enjoyed as Ernie gave a short talk on these creatures. Eventually the lads
visited the Lithops growing houses and bought a selection of Lithops species. It
had been an enjoyable day out. Ernie used to do a postal service and I bought
from him several times. The plants were all of good quality but occasionally
rather small. This being due to the fact that you can sell plants much faster
than you can grow them.
Doug Rowland
January 2013
ED:
I also bought plants from Ernest Hepworth in my early days in the hobby. I still
have a spreading Haageocereus after 30 years which has survived my mistreatment.
Seeing a superb plant of this from the same source in an Isle of Wight
collection I was prompted to repot mine. Members of the Northants Branch visited
his nursery and the story goes that one of the wags attempted to try on a
concrete boot. Ernest was alleged to have said, “You can’t wear that, it’s
made of concrete.” It was what passed for humour in the 60s.
