Oh, friends. Oh dear, dear succ-er friends. I hesitate to share with you the fate that has befallen two of my loveliest agaves: my quadricolor and my attenuata.

Here's what happened. My girlfriend and I brought our many, many plants inside two months ago. We have a kind of weird little front room that's basically a small enclosed front porch. It's north-facing, unfortunately, but has windows and skylights, plus we've rigged up some extra lighting.

However, it's been SO cold that we started to grow concerned that our plants weren't getting enough warmth. So, uh, when she suggested we try a space heater, I said, "Sure."

And THEN what happened? Well, as you might know if you've ever tried this (or might imagine if you have an iota more sense than we did), the plants that were directly in the path of the warm air... Uh... Cooked. Literally, I think. Here's a picture of my poor, previously dapper little attenuata:

Yikes. No idea whether it might survive. The leaves definitely won't be coming back any time soon, so I cut it down to basically nothing and am hoping for an agave miracle.

My quadricolor fared a little better. You can tell from these pictures that it was in the path of the heater, but not the direct path. Basically, the warm air (which didn't feel THAT warm coming out, I swear) cooked the portion of the leaves in its path.

Here's a close-up.

I'm super bummed, but happy that we figured it out before it ravaged anything else (well, maaaaybe there was ONE teensy haworthia and half a kalanchoe--but that was it, really).

I've never had an agave with serious leaf damage like the quadricolor before. I need your advice... Better to let it repair on its own (I'm guessing that the damaged parts will just shrivel up and die eventually, but that the rest of the plant will survive), or better to cut away the damaged part? And if so, how?  Cut away the whole leaf?  just the damaged portion?

Eagerly and shame-facedly awaiting your advice...

Whoa!  How have I not blogged in over a month?!  You guys never told me that this "blog" thing would be so hard to keep up...  Heh, heh.  Actually, there's been a lot going on in GS-land these days, some of which are related to succs and some of which are related to the sundry illnesses that have befallen me in the last two or three months. 

My girlfriend and I made a pilgrimmage to a couple of succulent nurseries we've been wanting to visit, and I'll give you the full scoop on those in a post later this month.  But for now, I'll just share two plantings I made last week after those trips.

The first contains sempervivums Neptune and Nightwood, with which I am equally in love.  It's a tiny little planting, as you might be able to tell.  Maybe 6 " by 3" or so:

The second contains succs I procured at each of the three marvelous nurseries we visited.  I'm crazy about the particular combination of colors in this one: 

I'm going to sign off now, and go to the "infectious diseases" specialist who will (I hope) pinpoint the cause of my recent maladies and malaise.  Stay sweet, succ-ers!