Agave parryi HK 1684 is my belated favourite plant in the garden right now.

Having been away, no doubt a few photos to follow, I missed last weeks favourite plant post. Looking around the garden, one plant is currently standing out so much, it deserved a belated post.  It also seems quite topical as in a recent post on the great Piece of Eden blog, Hoover showed some of her amazing agave collection one of which was agave parryi truncata, which was glowing. (You can find her post here).

So the plant screaming for attention right now is my agave parryi HK 1684.

I've had this plant for about 5 years now, it is definitely not one of the quick forms. Collected by Horst Kunzleras it has to be one if not the best form of parryi.  Like truncata it is very pale in colour and a compact grower, at least as far as I know.  Slightly narrower leaves than the truncata, but those spines make up for it.

It's usually best known for having almost black spine, which set off the blue leaves perfectly. However every now and then the spines put on a show of their own and you get an array of colours from black through to yellow.

Being a parryi it has good hardiness, although with the slow growth rate any marks really do take years to grow out.  It comes true from seeds, which seem to be fairly readily available if you can not find the plant itself.  Seeds would also give you a chance to have multiple plants as in line with the unspoken rule, mentioned in my last post found here, it is not only slow to grow but also to offset. In all the years I have had it, there has only been one pup.

So if you already have truncata, go out and find HK 1684 and decide for yourself which you like best.

In the mean time, head over to Danger Garden to see Loree's and others favourite plants for last week.