COLD HARDY PLANTS
Growers and Breeders of Unusual Cold Hardy Plants
 

Agave lophantha
Quantity of plants tested: 1
Size of plant tested: smaller plant, 6" pot size.
Soil texture: sandy loam
When planted: the plant was planted in soil in August 1999.
Winter protection: it was under a plastic tarp from December -March during the 1999-2000 winter, no protection during the 2000-2001 winter.
Microclimate: warm microclimate, about 2 ft from south facing wall during the 1999-2000 winter, about 1 foot away from south facing wall during the 2000-2001 winter.
Temperature: refer to 1999-2001 winter on this chart
Findings: the plant did very well the first winter, almost no damage. The plant was transplanted on August 7, 2000.  About 3 weeks after the transplant, many brown spot emerged on most of the leaves.  We thought is was dieing.  It ended up surviving the 2000-2001 winter and by the end of the 2001 summer, the new leaves had no spots on them.  Moral of the story, they don't like transplanting!
agave_unknown-1.jpg (49101 bytes) February 24, 2000 - This photo shows the plant on February 24, 2000.  The low temperature was about -2F this winter.  The minimum high temperature was 12F.  We are very impressed with this Agave, it's the hardiest one we've tested so far.
agave_unknown-3.jpg (47115 bytes) March 30, 2000 - This photo shows the plant on March 30, 2000.  Some minor leaf tip burn did show up in March.
agave_lophantha_neardeath.jpg (63985 bytes) April 4, 2001 - This photo shows the plant on April 4, 2001.  The plant looks very bad, but much of the damage was setting in back in early September after the plant was transplanted.
agave_lophantha_recover.JPG (178166 bytes) August 14, 2001 - This photo shows the plant on August 14, 2001.  The newest leaves are fully healthy now.  The leaf damage which occurred after the transplant in 2000 has passed by.
agave_lophantha_2002_sept7.jpg (72080 bytes) September 7, 2002 - This photo shows the Agave about 1 year later, it's doing great.
garden agave cactus 2002 sept28 low 1080.jpg (76568 bytes) September 28, 2002 - This photo shows the same Agave in a different view.
agave_lophantha_2002_dec8r.JPG (73655 bytes) December 15, 2002 - here's the leaves of the lophantha.
agave_lophantha_2003_mar16r.jpg (75701 bytes) March 16, 2003 - here's the lophantha at the end of winter.  It's quite beat up.  It ended up dieing a few weeks later.  Two pups did emerge through the ground in May.



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