Artichoke Agave
One of the best of the many Agave parryi varieties, the Artichoke Agave (Agave parryi var. truncata) produces gorgeous rosettes of the most beautiful frosty blue and produces many offsets of smaller rosettes that come up all around it. It’s fiercely armored with dark maroon spikes but this adds greatly to its ornamental appeal! An individual rosette will send up a flower every 10 years or so and the flower spike is astonishing, growing straight up to 20 feet and looking like some sort of giant extraterrestrial asparagus! After flowering the rosette that produced the flower spike will die but the many offsets coming up around it will quickly grow and fill in its empty space.
Plant in extremely well draining soil in the brightest conditions if planting in ground. Otherwise it makes a fantastic container specimen and can be brought indoors when very cold weather is in the forecast.
Latin Name: Agave parryi var. truncata
Site and Soil: Full sun and very well-drained soil. Very drought tolerant once established and will need little to no supplemental watering during the summer season, though a bit of summer water speeds growth.
Hardiness: Hardy to approx. 15º F, possibly lower with great drainage.
Size at Maturity: 2 ft. in height by 3 ft. wide
Bloom Time: early spring through summer every decade or so
Pests & Diseases: Not bothered by pests or diseases.
USDA Zone: 8b