Agave havardiana (Very cold hardy) / 10 seeds

Native to the Big Bend area of western Texas and also Chihuahua and Coahuila, Agave havardiana is an acaulescent species that forms rosettes low to the ground. It’s named in the honor of Valery Havard, a French botanist, army officer, author and physician who studied the flora of Texas in the early 1880s. It sometimes develops suckers but doesn’t form large colonies like some other species. Leaves grow up to 70 cm (28 inches) in length and have dark brown curved teeth along the margins and at the tip. They are popular among succulent lovers due to their blue-gray color and smooth and rigid texture. The flower appears on stalks which can grow up to 7 m (23 feet) tall and flowers are yellow to yellow-green in color. Also, each stalk produces 12 to 20 side branches, each of which sport large bunches of yellow flowers. Each cluster consists of 21 to 48 flowers that are 6 to 9 cm long, funnel-shaped. Fruits are oblong, dry and up to 6 cm (2.4 inches) long, each containing 6-7 mm x 4-5 mm smooth black seeds.

Agave havardiana is surprisingly winter hardy and can survive winters with temperatures as low as -20-degree F. but the cold temperatures should be “dry cold” and not “wet cold”.

Agave havardiana is resistant to deer, rabbit, dry soil, drought, pests, diseases, and shallow rocky soil, and attracts birds, butterflies and hummingbirds.