Agave virginica
Jim McKenney (Mon, 08 Jun 2009 13:58:00 PDT)

Thanks, Pamela.

Yes, I've had my eye on this one in Tony's catalog.

I suspect there is a lot of largely unrealized horticultural potential among
these plants.

Forty or so years ago I got a plant of Manfreda maculata from Thad Howard's
Zephyr Gardens. I couldn't believe that it would have a chance in the
garden, so I tried to grow it as a pot plant. It did not take well to this
treatment. It was only years later that I learned that it probably would
have survived outside near a house wall.

Although my serious side likes very much the lumping of Polianthes, Manfreda
and Agave, my not-so-serious side finds that name mangave hilarious.

When I want to see if someone else has a not-so-serious side, I pronounce
Agave ah-GAH-way (which is pretty close to the classical Greek for the word;
it means illustrious).

Jim McKenney