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Agave potatorum 'Cherry Swizzle' (Swizzle Stick Butterfly Agave) - A very nice selection we named of Agave potatorum with broad gray leaves that form in an open symmetrical rosette to 1 to 2 feet tall by 2 to 3 feet wide. The many 10- to 18-inch-long leaves are slightly reflexed back near the tips and the tubercle-like prominences cupped along the margins with marginal spines that are a nice red to chestnut brown color with a long red terminal spine that is distinctively wavy, like a decorative swizzle stick used to garnish a fancy drink. When mature a flower spike rises 10 to 20 feet bearing light green flowers tinged with red and subtended with red bracts. This agave rarely offsets so, after maturing, which in our experience begins to occur when plants are as young as 10 years old, it will flower (usually during the fall) and then the entire plant declines and dies.
Plant in full sun with little irrigation required in coastal gardens but provide some supplemental irrigation in hotter inland gardens. Winter hardy to around 25 degrees.
The species Agave potatorum ranges through the semi-arid highlands between 4,000 and 7,000 feet in Oaxaca and southern Puebla. The species is quite variable in form; some plants have flatter leaves radiating straight out from the crown while others have leaves that are slightly cupped along the margins and are reflexed back. This agave was appreciated by the Nahuatl Indians who called it "papalometl" meaning "Butterfly Agave". The specific name "potatorum" is the generative of the Latin word 'potator' meaning "of the drinkers" in reference to the use of this plant in making alcoholic beverages. For information on the species see our listing of Agave potatorum.
This selection is similar, but superior, to plants we previously offered as Agave potatorum 'Swizzle Stick', which were seed grown from a beautiful flowering plant growing in the Santa Barbara garden of the late Jim Prine. The cultivar 'Cherry Swizzle' however was the result of selecting the best Agave potatorum in this same garden and vegetatively propagating it. The plant was dug in March 2006, repotted and then cored and vegetatively propagated in our nursery. After 10 years we were finally able to release this beautiful plant in 2016. Another very attractive selection we introduced around the same time we called Agave potatorum 'El Camarón'.
The information displayed on this page about Agave potatorum 'Cherry Swizzle' is based on our research conducted about this plant from books in our nursery library as well as from information that is provided by reliable online resources. We also have included our own observations made about it as it grew in the nursery gardens and other gardens visited, as well how the crops of this plant performed in the containers when we had them in our nursery field. We 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.
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