xMangave Report - 2017/2018

Like many other people, i was enamored with the new xMangave introductions in 2017. I got several in 2017 - some from Plant Delights, others from various local-ish plant sales.

Ones that I added in 2017:
Purple People Eater PPAF
Lavender Lady PPAF
Silver Fox PPAF
Tooth Fairy PPAF
Mayan Queen PPAF

'Catch a Wave' PPAF - from the Huntington sale
Inkblot PPAF - from the Huntington sale

They joined some that were already in my garden:
Moonglow - in the ground
Kaleidoscope  - in the ground
I also have "Pineapple Express" but the gophers ate half of that one. It's trying to recover, so fingers crossed but it's been 2+ years, and it's still not very happy.

I really like these plants - they are so cool-looking! Plant Delights and other places call them "tropical" zones, or 9B plants, so i was a little worried what would happen this winter. Most of the plants are in pots, so i could take them inside. But i never did, and we've had some cool nights with lows of 23 deg in January and 20 deg in December. Here is what they look like at the end of January:

Mayan Queen, Inkbot and Catch a Wave are all newly planted in one of the tubes. This may turn out to be too much sun for them come summer, but so far, they are ok.

this is Catch a Wave - not very happy right now, but not due to cold damage. 

Inkblot is just happy to get into the ground

Mayan Queen is very purple! 

Moonglow has been in the ground for a while - and got about a quarter eaten by stupid gophers last year.

no cold damage, although the colors are usually more vivid than this. 

This is one of my favorites - Tooth Fairy. This one is in a pot, but sheltered by a big Agave 'Crazy Horse' on one side, and eremophila on the other side.

happy, and mostly not affected by the cold

While xMangaves are listed as full-sun plants, some sort of sheltering from full desert sun in the summer seems to be a good idea. Silver Fox (below) is also in a pot, but gets afternoon sun most of the summer. He hasn't always been happy about that.

very silvery right now- that leaf damage is more likely due to sun vs. cold

 'Lavender Lady' (below) seems to be the most finicky of the bunch right now. Also in a pot, she seemed less than pleased by the amount of water she got over the summer (too little - one of the other plants was blocking the sprinkler). I think the stress is what made her susceptible to cold damage:

new leaves seem to do ok - she might need a better spot

 Purple People Eater (i always want to call this one and Tooth Fairy by the wrong name...) is half hiding under a Callistemon and also in a pot. She's a lot happier since the summer, when she nearly curled up on herself for some reason.

such a pretty color!

It seems like in my garden, kept fairly dry and a little sheltered, but not with any special measures, these new xMangaves are solid zone 8B plants. Good to know!

Kaleidoscope (in the ground for 2+ years now) shows the most manfreda-like behavior in the winter, dying down to the roots in some cases, and showing a lot of cold damage. Scared me a bunch the first winter! This year, she looks like this - not great, but still showing some of that color. 

not as good as late spring though...

In addition to these, i have some manfreda (chocolate chip, mint chocolate chip) and Mangave Cappuccino, Macho Mocha and Espresso. I'll have to take some pictures of them next time - they look very different from these.

I remember my landscaper saying something about not having too many different plants - i'm not sure "one of every kind of xMangave" is what he had in mind... But i'm going to keep trying! I saw there were some new introductions for 2018 also! I tell myself that the scrubs & other large plants, and similar forms, keep it all from looking too hodge-podgy. (i might be wrong about that, but i don't care! :) )