MANFREDA. Southern U.S. and Mexico. These are interesting relatives of the yuccas and agaves, very little known outside the Southwest. They have neat crowns of tapered, usually dark green leaves. The crowns branch freely to make small colonies. The flowering stems appear mostly in summer, carrying large, spidery blossoms with long stamens along their upper length. One selection is still unidentified (though M. virginica is a good guess). It has dark green 8-12" leaves, 4-6' stems and showy dark, bluish green flowers. M. maculosa is a smaller plant with spotted leaves and pale green, fragrant flowers on shorter stems. Sun or light shade, most soils, moderate watering. Both are probably hardy to 10^oF or less.