Agaves have long been favored as both useful and ornamental plants. This book touches on the former but is all in on the latter. Nurserymen/authors Jeremy Spath and Jeff Moore have combined their knowledge of agaves in cultivation as well as in habitat, with many stunning photos of plants in both situations. Agaves are soe of the most remarkable and iconic succulent plants, with an amazing divirsity of forms and colors. If you only associate agaves with tequil ... you won't anymore. Jeremy Spath has traveled extensively in pursuit of agaves in their natural habitat. He owns Hidden Agave Ranch in Escondido, CA, dedicated to propagating agaves, with a keen eye to developing and bringing new species and hybrids to market. Jeff Moore has owned and operated Solana Succulents in Solana Beach, CA, since 1992. He has authored four previous books on succulents, and is a dedicated proponent of and traveling speaker on all things succulent. A relatively new and novel use for agaves is as a more environmentally and aesthetically pleasing component of surfboard making. As beautiful and seemingly organic as the sport of surfing might appear, the surfboard manufacturing process involves some pretty nasty components such as polystyrene, fiberglass, industrial resins and expoxies. Gary Linden of Linden Surfboards in Oceanside, CA has been using dried agave flower stalks as an alternative to the foam interior. Since surfboards need to be as light as possible, the original board builders transitioned from heavy redwood to much lighter balsa wood, until lightwwight foam was introduced in the 1950s. Bals boards were still built in later years in small numbers, usually more for an artistic or nostalgice reason.