{"id":35720,"date":"2012-12-13T13:23:50","date_gmt":"2012-12-13T17:23:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/agrowingobsession.com\/?p=35720"},"modified":"2015-05-12T14:24:29","modified_gmt":"2015-05-12T18:24:29","slug":"agave-titanota-crush-with-eyeliner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/agrowingobsession.com\/?p=35720","title":{"rendered":"Agave titanota (crush with eyeliner)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Let me change the holiday music channel, if ever so briefly, by sharing the soundtrack that plays every time I walk by this agave, my crush with eyeliner<\/a><\/a>. <\/p>\n

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Agave titanota hybrid ‘Lanky Wanky’<\/p>\n

A silly, last-round-at-the-pub name for a sideways-leaning hybrid of an elusive agave, an agave I’ve unknowingly owned for some years. <\/p>\n

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Here’s the real thing, Agave titanota.
\nThis agave is famous for it’s pale white leaves, though I would argue that Agave celsii var. albicans ‘UCB’ may now hold that honor. <\/p>\n

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Agave celsii var. albicans ‘UCB’
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\nAgave titanota has been one of my long-standing mystery agaves. While it gained size, growing nameless, anonymous, and let’s face it unloved,<\/em> I occasionally pursued the legendary Agave titanota elsewhere, on eBay for example, where I was saddled with an impostor (who is now the new mystery agave). I didn’t know what my old mystery agave was, but it didn’t strike me as anything special. It took a long time to become smitten with Agave titanota, because it doesn’t form that tight, breathtaking, world-within-world form that I expect to admire in agaves. The sharkskin-like leaves jut out at odd angles, and I mistook its pale coloring for bleached-out sunburn. Its famous natural qualities I attributed to grower error. (Someone needs more reference books.)
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\nFortunately for me, this agave chugged along amidst all that neglect, forgotten in a rarely watered pot in full sun.
\n“Agaves Yuccas and Related Plants” by Mary & Gary Irish<\/a> helped with the final ID, as well as seeing a labeled A. titanota at a nursery recently. The similarity of the hybrid ‘Lanky Wanky’ also confirms the ID, and I love how its more congested form accentuates the black eyeliner on the leaf margins and spine tips. The new book on agaves, “Agaves: Living Sculptures for Landscapes and Containers,” by Greg Starr<\/a>, would be handy in a reference library too.<\/p>\n

Agave titanota — still not a favorite, but no longer a mystery.<\/p>\n

(Yeah, life is strange.)
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I<\/p>\n