€53,00

🌱 Morphology
  Slow-growing Agave that forms a compact, almost spherical rosette, approximately 30–60 cm tall and 60–100 cm in diameter. Its leaves are thick, rigid, and broadly lanceolate, ranging in color from grayish-green to silvery-blue, and they imbricate to form a structure reminiscent of an artichoke. The margins are armed with small, dark, reddish or brownish teeth, and each leaf ends in a robust, usually dark, terminal spine. Over the years, it produces basal offsets that can give rise to colonies of numerous rosettes.

🌍 Distribution, habitat, and family
It is native to the southwestern United States—Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas—and northern and western Mexico. It is found primarily in desert environments and dry shrublands, from approximately 1,200 to 2,800 m in altitude, including transition zones between scrub, grassland, and open pine and juniper forests. These high elevations, with large temperature fluctuations between day and night, explain its exceptional cold hardiness. It is one of the Agaves used to produce the spirit known as Mezcal.
Family Asparagaceae · Subfamily Agavoideae · Tribe Agaveae 

❄️ Temperature · USDA Zone 7a
It tolerates minimum temperatures of down to −18 ºC for short periods and with the substrate completely dry. Specimens have been documented surviving temperatures near −20 ºC in dry cold conditions; cold accompanied by humidity is considerably more dangerous.

☀️ Lighting
It needs direct sun and abundant light to maintain a compact rosette and develop an intense grayish-blue hue. It tolerates light shade, but a lack of radiation causes more open rosettes. A PAR radiation of 20–30 mol·m⁻²·day⁻¹ (DLI) is recommended.

💧 Growth cycle and watering
Growth is primarily spring-summer. During the active period, it is recommended to water abundantly and allow the substrate to dry completely before the next watering. In autumn, intake is gradually reduced, and it is kept practically dry during the winter. In this species, the cold + humidity combination must be especially avoided.

🌸 Flowering
It is monocarpic: each rosette flowers only once and then dies, although the basal offsets allow the colony to continue. Floral maturity is usually reached in approximately 10 to 20 years, although some specimens may need 20–30 years. Flowering occurs mainly in summer, generally between June and August. The scape can reach 3–5 m, with numerous lateral branches loaded with flowers whose buds are reddish or pink and open to a creamy yellow.

🌿 Nutrition
During active growth, Desert CHOICE® Succulents is recommended, especially for its supply of potassium and assimilable calcium. Potassium promotes water regulation and tissue resistance against stress, while assimilable calcium helps maintain firm leaves and a structurally resistant rosette. It is not recommended to routinely add a specific flowering fertilizer to agaves.

This is an inimitable xerophyte grown in Madrid in a technological square pot and with the substrate activated with mycorrhizal fungi and biofungicides.

* As this is an online purchase, the appearance of the sent specimen may vary slightly from the product image. The plant's measurements are specified in the photo description, but this may also vary slightly because, after all, it is a living being! Each of the Desert CITY plants has unique characteristics.

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