Agave Gardening

Container Plants

• Slower-growing agaves can stay as container plants for a number of years. Portability allows those in colder climates to grow frost-tender plants. Queen Victoria agave (Agave victoriae-reginae) forms a rounded rosette of dark green leaves striped with white. The black terminal leaf spines are short. Growing to 18 inches wide and 12 inches tall, the plant lives for 10 to 15 years before it flowers. It grows in USDA zones 9 through 11. Artichoke agave (Agave parryi var. truncata) has wide blue-gray leaves that are ornamented with bud imprints. Short black teeth line the leaf edges, and a sharp black spine tips each leaf. The basal rosettes are 2 to 4 feet wide for individual plants. If in the ground, artichoke agave will form clumps 5 feet wide or more. Growing in USDA zones 6 through 9, this agave lives for 10 to 15 years.

Xeriscape Gardens

• If you have the room, larger agaves make dramatic landscape specimens. Century plant (Agave americana) grows 8 to 12 feet wide with leaves 5 to 7 feet long. When it blooms, the flower stalks tower to 20 feet tall or more. Blue-green leaves are fiercely armed with saw-toothed edges and sharp leaf ends. A variegated cream-and-white form (Agave americana "Marginata") adds color. Grow this species far from foot traffic because its spines are sharp. For a different silhouette, 5- to 6-foot-wide octopus agave (Agave vilmoriniana) sends slender, sprawling, undulating leaves arching from a central base to resemble the creature it is named after. It grows on cliff faces in Mexico, and displays well in gardens on a mound, slope, or planter edge where its leaves show to advantage. Both these agaves grow in USDA zones 9 through 11.

Cold-Tolerant Agaves

• Some agaves inhabit mountain ranges that get snow and low winter temperatures. Dwarf Utah century plant (Agave utahensis) comes from the mountains in the Four Corners area of Utah, California, Arizona and Nevada, growing in USDA zones 6 through 9. Its gray-green leaves are well-armed with teeth, with the plant reaching 1 1/2 feet wide and tall. Toumey agave (Agave toumeyana) is a smaller plant native to mountains of central Arizona. Best suited to raised beds or rock gardens where it can be viewed up close, its narrow leaves have extensive white bud imprinting lines. This plant grows to 12 inches tall and wide and grows in USDA zones 5 through 9.

Cactus and Succulent Gardens

• Agaves complement the cylindrical, columnar and globular growth forms of cacti. Plant agaves singly as accents or in groups for effect. Choose leaf colors to contrast with surrounding cacti. "Blue Glow" agave (Agave "Blue Glow") has blue-green leaves with the smooth leaf edges lined in red. It grows in USDA zones 8 through 10, slowly reaching 24 inches wide and 18 inches high. Dramatic form and coloring characterize "Lucky Crown" century plant (Agave potatorum "Kissho Kan"). Its road but short variegated leaves have a soft bluish color down the center, bordered by cream edges. Cinnamon-brown curved teeth define the edges with a long spine at the tip. Hardy in USDA zones 9 through 11, this agave grows about 1 foot high and wide.