Plant in full sun along the coast but seems to appreciate some protection from afternoon sun in hot interior gardens. It has proven cold hardy to short duration temperatures down to 23° but leaf margins can burn much below this. It is a very nice landscape plant, and its smaller size make it a good potted specimen.

Agave oteroi's center of distribution is along the Rio Hondo and its side drainages. The Rio Hondo forms part of the border between the Mexican states of Puebla and Oaxaca. The specific epithet honors Mexican plant collector Felipe Otero, who first collected this plant in 1984 in Sierra Mixteca, the mountainous region located between the states of Puebla and Oaxaca in south-central Mexico. For many years this species was just labeled as Agave sp. "Sierra Mixteca" or with Felipe Otero's initials and collect number as FO-076 and was later. It was also distributed as a form of Agave titanota and in Japanese nurseries under the name Agave sp. No.1. It was officially described as Agave oteroi by Greg Starr and Tristan Davis in the Summer 2019 issue of Cactus and Succulent Journal (Vol. 91 N. 2). It has affinities to Agave titanota, which typically has very gray-colored leaves, and some continue to think it a form of this species or a hybrid with it as a parent. Some have also speculated it is a form of Agave horrida and the name Agave horrida var. oteroi been used. Whatever you call this plant, it is very attractive.

Our original plant came from Abbey Garden in 1992 but later we grew seed from a plant that flowered in the garden of Santa Barbara succulent collector David Tufenkian and from these seeds we selected a very compact plant we named Agave 'Filigree that is somewhat similar but tighter and with smaller teeth than a plant we got from Guy Wrinkle labeled Agave 'Kyoto'. We had a crest develop on 'Filigree' that we propagated and sold as 'Filigree Devil' and in the past sold an odd form that grew up on leafy stem that we called Agave titanota 'Lanky Wanky' that seems to fit in best with Agave oteroi. 

The information displayed on this page about Agave oteroi is based on the research we have conducted about it in our nursery library as well as from information provided by reliable online resources. We also include our own observations made about this plant as it grows in the nursery gardens and other gardens visited, as well how the crops of this plant have performed in the containers in our nursery field. We will also incorporate comments that we have received from others and welcome hearing from anyone with information about this plant, particularly if it includes cultural information that will aid others to better grow it.