Hechtia vs agave: who wins?

We once had a Great Dane named Cisco. We got him as a young puppy. Puppyhood didn’t last long. Within a year, he had tripled in weight. He wasn’t the sharpest tool in the shed, but he was very loving (and lovable).

Cisco with my mother

Legs for days

For some reason, I thought of Cisco when I finally accepted the fact that the hechtia in the photo below was simply too big to live here:

Hechtia ‘Oaxaca Sunset’ reaching towards Agave impressa

This top-down view...

...illustrates the situation very well

It wasn’t always like that. Here’s Hechtia ‘Oaxaca Sunset’, on the right in all its compact-sized glory, in March 2023:

Hechtia ‘Oaxaca Sunset’ on the right (Lachenalia quadricolor, a South African bulb, on the left)

But, like Cisco, Hechtia ‘Oaxaca Sunset’ eventually grew up and ended up occupying more space than I had allotted (the fact that it formed a clump, rather than just one rosette, exacerbated the situation). Seeing how Agave impressa would always come out on top, it wasn’t a difficult decision to make: The hechtia had to come out to give Agave impressa room to breathe.

Now, lest you think I have elephant skin, I did put on protective gear: my ThornArmor 3092 gloves and arm protector sleeves my wife gave me a few years ago. My trusty cordless reciprocating saw made quick work of the task. In less than five minutes, I had cut off the large hechtia rosette that was encroaching on the Agave impressa:

To my surprise, the hechtia was planted in a heavy metal ring, not in the ground. I’d forgotten all about that, but it explained why it was so easy to remove the clump.

I ended up with a bunch of offsets. They don’t have roots yet, but they will root in their own time, measured in months, many months. (Again, patience, patience.)

The largest pup does have the beginnings of roots, and it’s already started to color up (this variety turns a vivid red in the winter):

What the spot looks like now:

I think I’ll put the largest pup back in the metal ring and start all over again. I did like how it looked originally.

SIDE NOTE: The fern on the left in the photo above looks so healthy at the end of summer! It’s a wavy cloak fern (now Astrolepis sinuata, previously Cheilanthes sinuata), a dryland fern native to the rocky cliffs and deserts of the southwestern United States south into Mexico and South America. It’s done exceptionally well, handling our heat and little water with aplomb.

ANOTHER SURPRISE: I found three bulbs to the right of the hechtia. I have zero recollection of planting these, but I must have. Kyle thinks they’re alliums (ornamental onions or garlic). They’re very much alive, so maybe we’ll know in a few weeks.

Oddly enough, a Google Lens search on the photo above apparently violated content guidelines? Seriously?

© Gerhard Bock, 2026. All rights reserved. To receive all new posts by email, please subscribe here.