Flowering mangave and espaliered pomegranates
A local gardening friend told me her Mangave ‘Purple People Eater’ was flowering. I’d never seen one in bloom so I was eager to stop by. I was surprised by how yellow the flowers were—not creamy or pale yellow, but a deeply saturated warm yellow. The flowers are very agave-like, which isn’t a surprise considering that ‘Purple People Eater’ is ¾ Agave and only ¼ Manfreda . It’s a cross between Mangave ‘Bloodspot’ (itself a hybrid between Agave macroacantha and Manfreda maculosa ) and Agave pablocarrilloi , the species formerly known as Agave gypsophila . It was hard to get a good photo of the entire plant because it was in mottled shade, but in addition to the main flower spike, there were about six shorter ones. Strangely enough, they don’t come from offsets as I would have expected, but have emerged from in between the rows of leaves. The mangave was cool to see, but the main attraction was right next to it: a curved espalier with three ‘Wonderful’ pomegranate trees! The pomegranate...