Agave parryi var. huachusensis
Artichoke Agave
Surely one of the most attractive of all the Agaves, there can be well over 100 pale blue leaves on a single plant. It colonises vast areas of Arizona and Mexico. A. parryi is well known in cultivation, the variety ‘huachusensis’ less so. It is the largest and most robust variety with leaves, ultimately, up to 25 inches or 64 cm long, pale blue in colour and equipped with red brown thorns and a strong terminal spine.
Perfect in the hot dry conservatory where it could be the centrepiece of a display of arid plants and will grow well especially if generously watered during hot dry weather.
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Plant Biography
Occurring in south-eastern Arizona and into the Mexican state of Chihuahua, it forms vast colonies to the exclusion of much else.
It’s hardiness to cold is due to the high altitude at which it grows along the mountain range. It produces prodigious quantities of offsets or suckers from which it may be readily propagated and, with luck and a fair wind, a huge flower stalk after a number of years.
Expert Tip
Care & Size Guidance
In the garden this Agave is well worth trying in a sunny corner. It is relatively hardy as long as it is kept quite dry during winter. This can be achieved by planting it in very free-draining gritty compost and by building a simple shelter over it to keep off the rain. Given this it should tolerate several degrees of minus temperatures.
The more or less round shape of this Agave grows to about 40cms tall and 50cms wide, with an exceptionally tall flower spike, up to some 5m/15 feet.
