I love how agaves look. I hate how readily they draw blood with those vicious spines. We grow mostly high altitude forms that can take incredible amounts of cold provided they are kept perfectly dry. They're monocarpic, growing for decades before finally deciding to send up truly massive flower spikes and killing themselves in the process. Despite their idiosyncratic blooming habits, I know a surprising number of people who breed agaves... it is an interesting hobby and they all have stories about trying to find ladders big enough to get up to the flowers or sneaking onto private property at night to snag pollen from some rare species. Agave nuts be crazy. Which is, of course, a good thing.