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Agave gentryi (Hardy Agave) - A medium sized green Agave gentryi that forms solitary rosettes to 4 to 5 feet tall by 5 to 6 feet wide with thick and wide light green leaves armed with large teeth along the leaf margin and a long terminal spine. The leaves have strong bud imprints and fold upright on both margins. This species is one of the few agave that tends to flower in two stages with the stalk initiating in the summer but stalling in fall, looking like a giant asparagus shoot through winter and then resuming growth the following spring when it sends out its short side-branches from its 12 to 18 foot spike that hold attractive red tipped buds that open as clusters of yellow flowers.
Plant in full to part sun along the coast but provide some shade in hotter climates and water occasionally. This is one of the most cold tolerant of the large agave, tolerating temperatures down to 5° F.
Agave gentryi grows naturally in the mountains of northeastern Mexico in five states: Coahuila, Zacatecas, Nuevo Leon, San Luis Potosi and Tamaulipas. It was first described by Howard Scott Gentry in Agaves of Continental North America. He described this plant as Agave macroculmis. In Joachim Thiede's more recent treatment of Agave in Illustrated Handbook of Succulent Plants: Monocotyledons he cites Bernd Ullrich, who had renamed and described this plant as Agave gentryi after noting the name Agave macroculmis should be rejected because it was a synonym for Agave atrovirens. The specific epithet honors Howard Scott Gentry.
We have grown this species from 2015 until closing the nursery in 2025. Our crops were initially grown from seed received in March 2012 from Brian Kemble off of a plant that flowered at the Ruth Bancroft Garden in 2010 but later were vegetatively propagated from these seedlings. We also have grown a couple selections of this species, Agave gentryi 'Jaws' and Agave gentryi 'Jeffrey'.
The information displayed on this page about Agave gentryi 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.
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