Jim: An aquaintance in Arizona has several acres of Hesperaloes in the field where he has been breeding for decades. The results are truly hard to describe...leaves from <.5" wide to over 4" wide, foliage that is solid purple, flowers from brilliant red to purple to yellow and everything in between, heavily branched scapes, excessively hairy leaves....pretty unreal stuff. We hooked them up with a good tc lab a few years ago, and it shouldn't be long before these start hitting the market. Tony Avent Plant Delights Nursery @ Juniper Level Botanic Garden 9241 Sauls Road Raleigh, North Carolina 27603 USA Minimum Winter Temps 0-5 F Maximum Summer Temps 95-105F USDA Hardiness Zone 7b email tony@plantdelights.com website http://www.plantdelights.com/ phone 919 772-4794 fax 919 772-4752 "I consider every plant hardy until I have killed it myself...at least three times" - Avent -----Original Message----- From: pbs-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org [mailto:pbs-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of Jim McKenney Sent: Thursday, May 26, 2011 7:54 AM To: pbs@lists.ibiblio.org Subject: Hesperaloë parviflora: not a bulb but... Hesperaloë parviflora is sending up a stout scape now - it's thicker than a grocery store asparagus and already four feet high. This is the first time this has bloomed here, so I'm excited. When I first learned of this plant decades ago, I thought it would not be hardy here. Wrong! It's an easy, reliable garden plant and when it blooms it's very exotic. I'm not the first to grow it locally - there are old plants in other local gardens. I've seen pictures of a yellow-flowered variant - are there others? I noticed that there is not a photo of this on the wiki yet - I'll try to get some soon. Jim McKenney