Yesterday’s post, ASDM: Agaves in the snow, prompted me to do a little bit of research into the cold tolerance of agaves. There’s a wealth of information available online and in books, but much of it is in bits and pieces. I attempted to compile a list that is as complete—and hence as useful—as possible. The tab “Sources” in the spreadsheet below lists the sources I relied on most; where they disagreed with regard to the cold hardiness of a given species or cultivar, I picked the mean value and rounded it up.
Agave ovatifolia, the whale’s tongue agave, is one of the best choices for cold and wet winters
My hope is that this list will be a useful reference for your own trials. Please bear in mind that cold hardiness depends on more than just temperature. For the majority of agave species, the most crucial factor aside from the absolute air temperature is how wet or dry the soil is when a cold spell hits. Completely dry soil allows agaves to withstand colder temperatures than they would be able to tolerate if the soil is wet. The worst-case scenario would be a deep freeze following rain, especially if the soil is heavy and has poor drainage.
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