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| Category: Succulent |
| Family: Agavaceae (now Asparagaceae) |
| Origin: Southwest (U.S.) (North America) |
| Evergreen: Yes |
| Flower Color: Green Yellow |
| Bloomtime: Infrequent |
| Height: 2-3 feet |
| Width: 3-4 feet |
| Exposure: Full Sun |
| Summer Dry: Yes |
| Irrigation (H2O Info): Low Water Needs |
| Winter Hardiness: < 0 °F |
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Agave havardiana (Havard's Century Plant) An attractive midsized Agave to 2 to 3 feet tall by 3 to 4 feet wide with a tight rosette bearing stout short broad silver-gray to nearly white leaves with dark brown mariginal and terminal spines. It is usually solitary but occasionally older plants can produce offsets. When mature the plant flowers in summer to fall with yellow-green flowers held on a tall branched spike. Plant in full sun with little to no supplemental irrigation required. Hardy to –20° F. We received the seed for this plant from Brian Kemble off of a plant that flowered at the Ruth Bancroft Garden in 2009, a plant we first noticed and admired on a visit to this garden in 2004. At that time it was labeled as being a wide-leafed form of Agave desertii, a plant native to our own Southwestern deserts. While its nativity certainly made this plant more interesting, it was its beautiful broad heavy pale leaves, so different from all other Agave desertii, that attracted our attention. With this plant's susequent maturity and finally its flowerering, it was determined that it was actually a very nice form of the Agave havardiana, a plant from the grasslands in west Texas and northern Mexico, at elevations from 4,000 to 6,000 feet. It was originally described under this name by William Trelease in 1912, who named the plant to honor Valery Havard, who had previously identified it as Agave wizlizeni in the Guadalupe Mountains in 1881 and in the Chisos Mountains in 1883. Havard was a French-born imigrant to the US and was an army officer, physician , author, and botanist. While serving as an army doctor in Texas he was able to explore new territories and discover new plants. It also is called by the common name Chisos Agave as it grows in this mountain range located in the Big Bend National Park as well as in the Davis Mountains just to the north. The pictures on our website were taken of this plant at the Ruth Bancroft Garden.
The information about Agave havardiana displayed on this web page is based on our research conducted in the nursery's horticultural library and from reliable online resources. We also include observations made about it as it grows in our nursery gardens and other gardens we have visited, as well how the crops have performed in containers in our nursery field. We will also incorporate comments we receive from others and welcome hearing from anyone with additional information, particularly if they can share cultural information that would aid others in growing this plant. |
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