Re: bamboo
- To: M*@ucdavis.edu
- Subject: Re: bamboo
- From: R* F* D*
- Date: Wed, 20 Oct 1999 01:20:21 -0400 (EDT)
At 08:43 AM 10/15/1999 +1300, you wrote:
>
>Although not so striking as this, even agaves can look pretty exciting
>with their tall poles all beset with flowers. Trouble is they die
>equally spectactularly and leave you with a gross mound of brown prickly
>foliage to dispose of. At least one of the people in this suburb who had
>one flower years ago apparently baulked at tackling the removal, and the
>wreck still sits in the middle of the lawn slowly mouldering away.
>Curiously, unlke most of the Agaves I have seen this one did not give
>rise to any "pups" during its dying throes.
>
>Moira
Moira:
Having some Agaves in pots myself, I can understand why the dead beast
hasn't been moved. When I biannually clean out the weeds and the looser of
the dead leaves, I wear gloves (and probably should have on safety goggles).
The spines on the ends of the leaves are vicious, and it's easy to see
someone putting out an eye handling the pots. The claws on the leaf edges
are also nasty, and, even dead and dry, the fibers in the leaves are tough,
which is why this genus and its relatives were sources of cordage for native
Indian tribes.
Richard F. Dufresne
313 Spur Road
Greensboro, NC 27406
336-674-3105
