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Agave weberi 'Arizona Star' (Variegated Weber Agave) - Medium sized rosette-forming succulent to 4 feet tall by 7 feet wide with fleshy, spine-tipped blue-green leaves that have a wide marginal pale-yellow stripe along the nearly spineless margins. Like the species this plant should have bright yellow flowers on 20' branched stalks at maturity.
Plant in full sun to light shade in a well-draining soil. Hardy to 10° F. A stunning plant when well grown with strong yellow variegation that stands out from the gray center of the leaf - must for any succulent garden that has room for it.
The neotype for this species is noted as from between Laredo and Catarina in Texas but an occurrence of a native planting is no longer known although there are many variants found as cultivated plants in arid areas of north-central and northeastern Mexico and South Texas. It was described in 1901 in the Bulletin du Muséum d'histoire Naturelle by the French botanist Jules Poisson (1833-1919) who attributed the name to another French botanist Jean Francois Cels (1810–1888) based on a specimen collected in Mexico that was then growing in Paris. The name for the genus is one given by Swedish naturalist Carolus Linnaeus. It comes from the Greek word 'agaue' (agauos or agavos) meaning "noble" or "splendid" and originates from Greek mythology. Agaue was the daughter of Cadmus, the king and founder of the city of Thebes, and of the goddess Harmonia. The name was first used by Linnaeus in 1753 when he described Agave americana. The specific epithet honors the French surgeon and botanist Frederic Albert Constantin Weber who in 1902 described Agave tequilana.
Howard Scott Gentry noted in his landmark Agaves of Continental North America that he had observed a great variation within the species with some forms green while others are glaucus gray and usually small teeth or denticles are present to an indeterminate extent on gracefully arching leaves. This selection was made by Tony Avent from a crop of Agave weberi growing at Mountain States Nursery in Arizona and and introduced at Tony's Plant Delights Nursery in 2007. Photo courtesy Tony Avent.
This information about Agave weberi 'Arizona Star' displayed is based on research conducted in our horticultural library and from reliable online resources. We also will relate 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 that we receive from others and we welcome hearing from anyone with additional information, particularly if they can share any cultural information that would aid others in growing it.
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