Comments on: Agaves & cool metalwork at Agave Landscape & Nursery

By: Bob Pool

Bob Pool — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 04:21:00 +0000

Some suggestions on the table and chairs. Instead of round cardboard you could use boards screwed together to form a square, hexagon or octagon for the coloumns that make the chairs and table base. I think big triangles would make a striking look to it and nobody else has them. You could also have a woodworker use a router to make designs by cutting grooves in the wood to have a design in the concrete. One set of forms is all you would need and actually be cheaper than concrete cardboard forms. After one sets, just unscrew it and put it back together to pour the next one. Just remember to spray the forms down with Pam as a releasing agent so they come off easily.

You could also have metal backs made out of rebar to stick in the concrete chairs before the cement sets. It would make them a little more comfortable and would make it go with the metal band of the table better.

Cool ideas, Bob! You sound like you’ve done this kind of thing before. Thanks for the tip about using Pam cooking spray too. —Pam

By: Linda/patchwork

Linda/patchwork — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 19:43:24 +0000

OK…first Sol’stice, and now this. I’m going to have to make the trip, up to Dripping Springs. It’s not like it’s a long way, for me. 13 miles from here to the intersection @ RR12 and 290.
I love the metal cacti. At least, they don’t die on you.
There’s a big, stainless steel agave sculpture in Palm Springs, CA. I should post the picture of it. That is a great town to see xeric plantings.
Stay warm.

I’d love to see Palm Springs one day—and Santa Barbara and L.A. and the list goes on. BTW, Agave is in Oak Hill, not Dripping Springs (it’s on the way to D.S. from Austin), but it can’t be too far away for you. —Pam

By: Pam

Pam — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 13:06:39 +0000

You are personally responsible for turning me into an Agave fan. That large variegated one is incredible!

(And I like the concrete ‘chair columns’ too – how interesting. The table top could be all sorts of things (I was thinking a mosaic) – but what a simple, do-able idea…

Yea, another agave fan! Do you have one in your coastal S.C. garden yet, Pam? Maybe in a pot? —Pam

By: Noelle (azplantlady)

Noelle (azplantlady) — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 05:49:56 +0000

Hello Pam,

I wish I could have been there with you. Agave are absolutely my favorite succulents. I even love the metal agaves. I have some of the Mexican Fence Post columnar cactus in my garden. It is easy to grow and they do not have too many spines. I feel sorry for people who spend a lot of money on the large, mature specimens of Agave only to find that they flower that much sooner and need to be replaced ;0)

That’s a good point, Noelle. Bigger agaves are impressive but that much closer to their first and last bloom show. —Pam

By: Corner Garden Sue

Corner Garden Sue — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 03:02:00 +0000

My son has some of those, and was going to give me one, but my husband said we don’t have room in the house for it over the winter. I may have to find some room. That sure is a cool assortment!

By: Jenny

Jenny — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 00:42:28 +0000

I have passed by the nursery too but never stopped there. I think I had better go and pick up a couple of those metal sculptures. I have seen them in Phoenix mixed in with the real thing and they look really attractive. Apart from that I think they might be a smart buy for my garden. I lost a LOT of my wonderful A. d in the freeze. Boo hoo!

Oh no! I thought about your Agave desmettianas after that freeze, hoping they made it through somehow. So sorry to hear you lost a lot of them, but I trust you still have a few in protected storage.

By: jodi (bloomingwriter)

jodi (bloomingwriter) — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 00:19:37 +0000

Can’t decide which I like best, Pam: the real agaves, the metal ones, or those amazing Mexican pots! Talk about colourful. I’m wondering if the concrete table base had heavy rebar set into it so that the tabletop could rest on it, but be removed for winter storage? I’m going to puzzle over this for a while.
Thank you for your supportive comments, Pam. I think refreshing the blog look and ‘talking’ with my fellow bloggers has done me a world of good. Muchly appreciated.

I doubt there’s any winter storage of that table, Jodi; no need in our mild climate. But surely there’s some sort of attachment so that the tabletop doesn’t tip over accidentally.

You’re welcome for the comments. I’m glad to hear that you’re feeling recharged. —Pam

By: Les

Les — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 00:07:35 +0000

That agave setcresia combo is an idea to steal.

By: Janet

Janet — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 22:56:40 +0000

You find the neatest places to share. Love those huge agave!

By: Frances

Frances — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 21:05:19 +0000

Oh Oh Oh Oh OH! The pots, the plants, the metal! What a place, Pam. I hope they did not suffer any damage from the cold snap. The flames in particular piqued my interest. I am not sure I would paint them red, but since they are supposed to be flames…. I could do some damage there.
Frances

I drive like that too. Impulsiveness meets cool garden shops equals quick turn offs!