If you’re into agaves, it’s likely that you’ve heard of Jeremy Spath. He’s the country’s leading agave hybridizer and, with Jeff Moore, the author of the 2021 book Agaves: Species, Cultivars & Hybrids, which I called an “instant classic” in my review (the 2nd edition just came out).
Jeremy lives on a 7½ acre property in northern San Diego County, aptly named Hidden Agave Ranch. Because of the hillside location, Jeremy never experiences frost. That allows him to grow just about anything he wants without having to worry about cold tolerance.
Jeremy has a wonderful garden full of special agaves, many his own creations, as well as a substantial greenhouse and even a tissue-culture lab where he propagates some of his best plants on a larger scale. Check Hidden Agave’s website for what’s currently available.
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| Jeremy in his greenhouse |
Hidden Agave Ranch was the first stop on my
recent San Diego trip. Jeremy has become a friend over the years, and it was great to catch up. The lighting was very contrasty in the late afternoon so I didn’t take as many photos of Jeremy’s garden as I otherwise would have. To see more, check out my previous posts (
October 2020 |
February 2022).
As you can see, Jeremy’s garden is full of beautiful agaves, many of them one-of-a-kind specimens exhibiting special characteristics. Someday I’ll try to photograph them all. For today, here are a few that caught my eye.
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| Agave horrida |
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| Agave shawii |
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| Agave shawii |
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| Agave ‘Blue Flame’ × mitis var. albidior |
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| Agave ‘Blue Flame’ with streaking variegation |
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| Agave victoriae-reginae (left) and Agave pelona |
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| Agave pelona with particularly long terminal spines |
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| Agave titanota |
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| Agave ovatifolia × utahensis var. nevadensis |
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| Agave ovatifolia × utahensis var. nevadensis |
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| Agave parrasana × isthmensis |
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| Agave titanota |
On the patio, a flowering Agave albopilosa, definitely not a common sight.
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| Agave albopilosa produces a flower stalk with a pronounced lean. In nature, it grows on steep cliffs, and the curved inflorescence ensures that the seeds land on the cliff face where they germinate in minute cracks. |
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| The flower buds are almost black |
Jeremy’s other love are dudleyas. With Kelly Griffin and Jeremy Moore, he has co-authored the first comprehensive review of the genus,
Dudleyas, published in 2024 (
read my review). Jeremy has quite a few species of dudleyas growing in his garden as well as in pots in the greenhouse.
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| Dudleya pachyphytum |
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| Dudleya candida |
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| Dudleya candida |
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| Green form of Dudleya farinosa |
Jeremy’s greenhouse is large –
enormous by my size standards. It houses not only his sale plants, but also his personal collection:
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| Agave albopilosa |
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| Agave victoriae-reginae |
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| Agave parviflora |
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| Spineless Agave margaritae |
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| One of many Agave utahensis var. eborispina |
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| Agave utahensis var. eborispina with unusual green spines |
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| Agave utahensis var. eborispina × titanota ‘Black and Blue’ |
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| Agave megalodonta |
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| Agave utahensis var. eborispina × titanota ‘Black and Blue’ |
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| Agave margaritae |
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| Agave kristenii × cerulata |
I won’t lie, I’m attracted to variegated agaves like magpies to shiny objects. If there’s a variegated plant all the way across the room, I will spot it.
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| Agave margaritae |
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| Agave horrida |
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| Agave ‘Bareback Rider’ (A. cupreata × asperrima) |
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| Agave polianthiflora |
A few wider views of the greenhouse:
The screened enclosure below is to protect seedlings from rodents:
Lots and lots of agave babies, most of them seed-grown, but also a few tissue-cultured varieties:
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| Agave albopilosa |
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| Jeremy has started to tissue culture some of Stephen McCabe’s dudleya hybrids. Here are two of them, a striking red hybrid that stays red year round, and one with leaves that fork when mature. |
In addition to agaves and dudleyas, Jeremy also grows a variety of other plants, like
Hechtia lanata below:
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| Regular green form of Hechtia lanata |
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| Red form |
Jeremy sells both agave hybrids and seed-grown species
on his website. New introductions often sell out quickly. If you want to choose from a bigger selection and pick out your own plants – and see the grounds – you can
make an appointment to visit Hidden Agave Ranch in person.
MY HAUL
For those of you who are interested in these things, here's my haul from Jeremy:
- Agave eborispina × titanota 'Black and Blue'
- Agave isthmensis (spineless)
- Agave sebastiana
- Agave truncata × 'Sharkskin'
- Agave xylonacantha × utahensis var. nevadensis
- Dudleya 'Burgundy' (Stephen McCabe; tissue-cultured)
- Dudleya 'Forked' (Stephen McCabe; tissue-cultured)
- Dudleya cespitosa (Stephen McCabe selection; tissue-cultured)
BOOKS
As I mentioned earlier, Jeremy has co-authored two books: Agaves (now in the 2nd edition) and Dudleyas. Both of them are leading references illustrated with hundreds of fantastic photos. If you’re interested, you can order them from the authors, as indicated below.
Agaves: Species, Cultivars & Hybrids (2nd ed.)
MORE ABOUT JEREMY AND HIDDEN AGAVE
© Gerhard Bock, 2025. All rights reserved. To receive all new posts by email, please subscribe here.
Agave paradise! I assume you didn't leave empty handed?
ReplyDeleteOh no. I added my haul at the bottom of my post.
DeleteThe pots that the agaves are in are beautiful, in terms of both texture and color.
ReplyDeleteYes! Jeremy has a great collection of handmade pots as well.
DeleteWow! A fantastic visit, no doubt. I really like Agave pelona, I've never heard of it before. All the variegated agaves are fabulous. Nice haul!
ReplyDeletePelona is one of my favorite species, but it isn't the easiest to grow. Don't know why.
DeleteThat's an agave wonderland! Something's happened with Blogger's updates to my blog list - it usually shows me all current posts but I didn't find this post until I decided to check your feed directly.
ReplyDelete