Plant in full sun, except in hotter inland gardens where light shade or morning sun is best, in a well-drained soil with occasional irrigation in late spring and summer. It is cold hardy to around 15°F.

Agave schidigera is found in the wild from Chihuahua south to Michoacán and east to San Luis Pososí, Zacatecas and Durango but the origin of this cultivar is as yet unknown. It has has been in Agave collections for years, often listed as Agave filifera 'Compacta Marginata'. Tony Avent of Plant Delights Nursery provided the cultivar name 'Shira ito no Ohi' which is the literal translation from Japanese for the common name of "Queen of White Thread-leaf" - with 'Shira-ito' meaning "white-thread" and 'no ohi' (or 'no oji') meaning "queen". Since we received this plant as an Agave schidigera cultivar we list it this way but note that Howard Scott Gentry was skeptical of Agave schidigera being a valid species when he wrote about it in his “Agaves of Continental North America” and in recent treatments by Bernd Ullrich and Joachim Thiede it has been reduced to subspecies status under Agave filifera from which it differs by being solitary, typically having longer more flexible leaves that are not thickened toward the base and larger flowers. We note however that the Royal Botanic Garden Kew database has Agave schidigera listed as a valid species. We have grown this attractive plant since 2008. 

Information displayed on this page about Agave schidigera 'Shira ito no Ohi' is based on our research conducted about this plant in our nursery library as well as from information provided by reliable online resources. We also include our own observations made about it as it has grown in the nursery gardens and other gardens visited, as well how the crops of this plant performed in the containers in our nursery field. We will also include comments received from others and welcome hearing from anyone who has information about this plant, particularly if it includes cultural information aiding others to better grow it.