Shaw's Agave

When it rains it pours. I just wrote about seeing some Agave shawii growing in San Diego and then finding a little potted one for sale at Theodor Payne. This week my friend Sean asked me if I wanted some mature agaves that were removed from the Aquarium of the Pacific to make way for their new penguin exhibit.

He wasn't sure what they were but sent the picture below. I'm not sure either, but they look an awful lot like A. shawii. From the photo I thought they were about a couple feet across but when I saw them in person they seemed huge. I brought Alex thinking the two of us could lift one but I couldn't even budge it.

Luckily, Sean arranged to have someone forklift them into my truck.


Three of them totally filled the bed of the truck. It was overwhelming and awesome. The plants are beat up from being moved around so much but they should bounce back in a couple years. There are already new offsets coming out, so even if these are stressed into blooming I should get some pups to spread around.

Now I just have to figure out how to get them out of the truck and up the hill. Alex thinks we should drive the truck up the dirt road to the top of the hill and then drag them down. That sounds a lot easier than carrying them all the way up.

While we were at the Aquarium we also got to meet Parker the sea lion.

And by "meet" I mean shake flippers with and get kissed by.

I've shaken a sea lion's flipper before but this was my first kiss (and Alex's). It was surprisingly long and gentle. And offered in exchange for a fish.

Both Parker and the agaves were worth the visit to Long Beach. Thanks Sean!