What is your favorite Group of Plants?

[Allen Repashy]

Just wanted to test out the Poll feature and see what mix of focus we have around here. I know that most members have diverse interests, but if you were forced to live with only one family of plants, what would it be? Feel free to add any comments to the thread to define your choice

Allen

[STEVE IN SOCAL]

That's like saying "Which child would you pull from a burning building"....very cruel poll.

[Steve Steward]

Yeah that is a tough one.

I might choose cactaceae since it's a huge family. Ask me again tomorrow, you'll get a different answer

SS

[thistlesifter]

I spend more time with Haworthias than any other xeroidal (new word).

Also spend a lot of time with Aloes.

Favorite group of plants is xeroidals, but that wasn't one of the choices.

My favorite kid is the last one that gfted a book listed in my reference book 'want list' on Father's Day.

Favorite plant group varies by season!

The
bob

[amarguy]

Aloeaceae ... thought I'd break the current tie with Agave. - Ken

[Paul S]

I have a strange love affair with nolina and dasylirion. Who knows why? Possibly my therapist... with agave and yucca coming in close behind.

I heard some talk a couple of years back of someone doing a paper on nolina - anyone know if that came to anything?

[Allen Repashy]

It looks like Aloe's are kicking arse here. I look foward to learning the genus now that I have had a decent schooling in Agave.

Allen

[void]

What a choice, I've officially cut one arm off using the other, just another day of obsession...
One day everything will be reclassified anyway, so might as well take the plunge! Wind is SE, I guess its Agavaceae for today.
erik

[crobin500]

What about xeric trees? My favorite family is not listed - Burseraceae.

Cynthia

[Allen Repashy]

Hi Cynthia,

Burseraceae and other Xeric Trees, aka "Fat Plants" would fit into the "Pachyforms" category.. I know it is kind of general, but wanted to keep the number of choices reasonable.

Cheers, and welcome to the forums.

Allen

[Stan]

For now Allen,the C&S. If water was no problem,the fern world might win. But,I live in the bay area,and the southern part where rainfall is up to 10" less than even San Francisco. oh,with water,we have a great climate for ferns of the world-just albout all grow here short of utra tropical species. For C&S we have plenty of clear sunny days,rarely touch 32F. It's the summers of 75F(great for people!) that limit the speed of growth in comparison to the deep southwest. Im leaning towards the Aloe as favorite xeric. Euphorbia's run a close second as they take the shade urban life makes. The Cacti are not forgiving with lack of light...

[Kelly]

That's a bloody cruel poll, but it's a cruel world! Aloes arm wrestle agaves for first place, but Pachypodiums are bulking up in the gym, for me at least, to murder a metaphor. Aloes win through sheer variety of form and heroic persistence in the face of my dufus cultivational blunders.
A good tree aloe takes a lot of beating. My barberae is the only succy I have that's bigger than I am, and that's a great feeling.
But then my pachypodium baronii flowered for five months this year!
It must be about to die

[Matt Maggio]

Originally Posted by STEVE IN SOCAL

That's like saying "Which child would you pull from a burning building"....very cruel poll.

Missed this thread... I'd rescue the kid holding the agave.

[GermanStar]

I love Agaves, but if I were in Zone 10 (rather than 9), my yard would look absolutely silly with all manner of tropical xerophytic Euphorbias. As it is I have an E. ingens in my front yard that I hope to coax through another winter. It grows like mad in the summer! More, more I say! I want more!!!

[Boo Hollow]

Most whom know me believe I only love Dudleyas. So what if I occassionally grow 150,000+ seedlings in a year, I love the Stapeliads and all of their unique features, forms and flowers. The rugged beauty of the Agaves is tough to beat. The finest Aloes still can't compete, in my book, with the simple elegance of a well (hard) grown Agave. Stapeliads, however, with their somewhat demanding care, reward more quickly with floral displays and odors that cause one to check if they are in need of a shower. I would agree with most of the replies that it is a cruel question. Having 120 different Agaves and only 20 different Stapeliads, one would get the wrong impression of my likes and dislikes. In a mad rush out the door, there would be arms full of prickly agaves and dudleyas and stapeliads and I would have to grab the Galapagos Opuntias and just hope my wife can keep up.... because she is on her own with her ever ailing orchids. Sorry Kelly, I know I could always get more of your wonderful hybrids so they would stay behind.

[lorax]

Bromeliads, hands down. I'm likely biased because I live in a center of diversity for that family, but I'm endlessly fascinated by how such large plants end up depending on such small birds for survival. They're also endlessly useful plants, and I've always been a giant fan of pineapples....

Then again, ask me again tomorrow and I'll probably say Agaves.

[amanzed]

I think my earliest and deepest fascination is with Crassulaceae. So with aloes and agaves already heavily represented, I'll advocate for the stonecrop and jade, the most species-rich family in the order Saxifragales (ca. 1400 spp).

That said, I started buying and trading cuttings of Agave as soon as I had room for them. I had 13 Agave spp. at the age of 26 or 27, but I didn't realize back then that people actually collected such things.

I didn't even recognize that I was starting to collect! I... I... I...

I just like to grow as many different ones as I can.

--dean

[Jeff Smith]

my favorite is cacti.