Agave americana hardiness

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Adam r
Posts: 58
Joined: Fri Apr 20, 2012 7:05 pm
Location: Sunderland

Agave americana hardiness

Post by Adam r »

Do anyone know how hardy Agave americana is and is the variegated form as hardy?
I have one planted in the garden and a couple in pots and they all made it through the winter unscathed. The only protection they had was a piece of ply board leaning against the fence with the Agaves underneath. They were covered in snow in the winter as the snow drifted up beside them and covered them so I thought they would have been affected but not one bit of damage. How hardy are they really? I have lost one before that was planted in the ground covered with a plastic greenhouse so the are not fully hardy but the winter that killed my original one wasnt as cold as the winter just gone.
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tatter
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Joined: Tue Jun 19, 2018 7:37 pm
Location: smethwick west mids

Agave americana hardiness

Post by tatter »

A lot depends on what condition they are kept in how well drained they are how dry kept in winter and age of plant .may I suggest you look under the exotics tab at top of page then succulents and then Agave Americana. Hardiness rating varies between 1c and -6c depending on what you want to believe .They do not like being frozen I understand.
Varigated speices tend to be less hardy than there single colour counterparts. Mine is kept in greenhouse(unheated) overwinter but it is only small at mo.Hope this helps. Others may of course have differing views.
Jim
I'm older than yesterday but younger than tomorrow
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DiCasS
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Joined: Sun Mar 09, 2008 5:59 pm
Location: Hereford

Agave americana hardiness

Post by DiCasS »

Mine is up against my south facing wall in a big pot and it came through this Winter with just damage to one or two outermost leaves. I hardly protected it, I say hardly, I did protect it with fleece in December when we had the snow, but took it off when the snow had gone so went totally unprotected for the rest of the Winter. The coldest we had was -11for a very short period and then lows of -7/-8 when the beast arrived. I've never protected it in previous years since I've had it. It's planted in an extremely gritty/gravelly medium.

The variagated one is practically dead, it gets hammered every year but generally new shoots grow.

Di
I'm at an age where my back goes out more than I do.
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