Hello, I'm not sure if it is appropriate to request an in-person trade, but, I would much prefer that. So, if you are in the Los Angeles/Hollywood area, here is what I am looking for: I am looking for a variegated agave attenuata offset, as well as offsets of a variegated agave americana and an agave americana medio-picta. Also, any brugmansia seedlings, since I can't seem to get any of my seeds to germinate. What I have to trade: I have seedlings for jacarada, Phoenix bird of paradise (caesalpinia pulcherrima), passionflower (what kind, i am not sure...), and datura wrightii. Thanks!

I have transplanted in the high hundreds of agave attenunata in Southern California in the way I described at pretty much every time of year over the course of a couple decades. I don't know why GeeS thinks it would kill the plant. Must not be from around here. Another Landscape Architect friend of mine has about 2000 sqft of the stuff and whenever they get too long for the look he is going for we just go at them with a pruning saw and replant everything. I have even filled up a pickup truck with the stuff after demoing a landscape, let it sit in another friends backyard for a few months, then stuck them in full sun without roots in the heat of August and they didn't die. They might turn a little yellow and the bottom leaves might shrivel up but those guys are pretty tough.

Yes, you have an Agave attenuata:). It would probably grow anywhere you put it living in SoCal:). It's up to you if you want to remove the off sets, but I would leave be. Just place in the ground wherever you want it and leave be. This should grow pretty easy for you. May need a few hours of sun to grow well, but honestly I've seen these grown in the shade.

If the main stem is damaged beyond redemption maybe try cutting it off with a sterile knife till good healthy tissue is reached, often attenuatas will regenerate from the base and throw out new pups. My regular green one developed a unhealthy top after cold damage last year, I’ve cut it off and now have several pups growing happily from the severed base. It lives in an unheated greenhouse here in the U.K. with temps as low as -8C so far and the only extra protection is from a thin horticultural fleece thrown over it and all my other plants in there. Gill