Agave desmettiana "Joe Hoak"

There are some plants that I've never heard of that suddenly crash into my awareness and then it's all I think about. "Joe Hoak" is one of those plants.

I first saw it at the Inter City show and it seemed so exotic an unexpected that it almost didn't seem real. There is a softness to it that seems so unlike the other agaves. Even the standard and variegated forms of desmettiana are so robust and almost bullies. "Joe Hoak" seems almost unrelated to those prolific, mounding cousins.

There must be a lot of other people interested in it as well because I started to see it more and more and read about it on other blogs. I actually passed one up at a Huntington sale because it seemed a little seared. I'm glad I waited because I eventually found a happy little plant that has since unfurled into a beautiful languid specimen. I put it in my favorite pot off all time, an original fiberglas cone on a tripod. This plant seems to require elevation, not because it trails, but because I want it to be closer to me, closer to my face, so I can eat it like buttered noodles.

 I wish that Fancy was in one of these shots for scale. The plant is about 2 feet across.