Grand Duke Surprise

Most years in fall, we sell off several of our large potted specimen century plants to make room in our overwintering greenhouse. 2024 was no different, but as is usually the case, all of the plants don’t sell. One that didn’t move was our large pot of Agave asperrima ‘Grand Duke’, so we decided to plant it outdoors last October. If you’ve followed our agave recommendations, you know that we never recommend planting agaves that late in the year, because they don’t grow large enough to shed winter moisture. But, since our potted specimen was already rather big, we took the chance. Over 39 years of trialing, we have had a very mixed record with the winter hardiness of Agave asperrima. While we have 11 clones of it that have survived in the ground in that time, we’ve lost 44 other clones over winter. Consequently, the chance of a variegated form surviving in the ground here was somewhere well below 1%. Well, over a week after three consecutive nights in the teens F, with a low of 14F, our clump looks shocking great, despite being planted in one of the most unprotected spots in the garden. It’s these amazing surprises that make it worth all the plants we kill.