Agave guiengola

Agave guiengola is a frost-sensitive botanical species, which will delight succulent plant collectors. This medium-sized agave forms a very open rosette, composed of large fleshy, brittle, pruinose, grey-green leaves, resembling those of Aloes. Some mature individuals, when subjected to intense drought, develop attractive pink or orange polychrome streaks on their leaves. Its moderate growth, architectural habit, and temperament naturally make this perennial plant suitable for cultivation in pots, to be stored frost-free. It will be well highlighted in a contemporary, minimalist garden, or at the heart of a profusion of exotic plants.

Originally from Guiengola, located in the Gulf of Tehuantepec in Mexico, Agave guiengola is primarily a plant of the subtropical coastal plain, well adapted to arid conditions, in a climate spared by frost. It belongs to the Asparagaceae family (formerly Agavaceae), just like yuccas or tuberose. This perennial succulent herbaceous plant has rhizomes capable of producing suckers, but it is almost devoid of aerial stems. The open basal rosette will not exceed 1m (3ft) in diameter and height. It is composed of less than 20 succulent leaves, very wide at the base, fleshy and tough, sometimes bulging on top, always thickened at the base, covered with bluish-white bloom, and bordered by tiny reddish to greyish spines. When a rosette reaches the venerable age of 15 to 20 years, or even more, it produces a flowering stem reaching 2 to 3m (7 to 10ft) in height. It bears numerous horizontal branches. The branches bear flattened and spherical panicles, composed of a myriad of small yellow-green tubular flowers. The rosette, called semelparous, dies after several months of flowering, having taken care to produce numerous small peripheral rosettes to ensure its perpetuity. Curiously, some individuals seem not to produce suckers.

In very mild climates, this agave will find its place in a large rockery, a dry slope, or in a raised bed whose soil has been enriched with gravel or coarse sand. It can be planted with frost-resistant prickly pears such as Opuntia humifusa 'Millevaches', giant fennel, hardy candle cacti (Cleistocactus strausii, Cylindropuntia imbricata), and ground-covering plants such as dwarf mugworts, Rhodanthemum, and Ajania pacifica, which are all equally undemanding. Gardeners in colder regions can plant it in a very large pot on a terrace, carefully choosing the sunniest and most sheltered location to recreate a garden inspired by those that flourish at the end of the world. This frost-sensitive plant should be overwintered in a bright, well-ventilated room, kept frost-free.

Agave is also an edible plant, used in Mexico to make mescal, an alcoholic beverage obtained by fermenting its sugar-rich juice. It is also used in traditional medicine in Mexico, Brazil, and India for its supposed anti-fungal properties. The inflorescences are highly attractive to many pollinating insects.