PlantFiles: Parry's Agave
Agave parryi

Zone 9b coastal Otago New Zealand

An intensely beautiful little agave with some frustrating habits, at least in my experience. Comes in as many 'forms' as you can poke a stick at (I have four, the standard pale greenish, the scalloped-leaf one thats smaller, a steel-blue smaller variety and 'truncata', all pretty different) and they each seem to have slightly different properties.
The scalloped leaf version is small and sulky and difficult, even when pampered, stubbornly refusing to flourish, suffering sunburn, leaf tip die off, discolouration, large leaf blemishes etc despite being in a sheltered pot, and with it's achingly slow leaf turnover, always looks a sickly eyesore. Im *this far away from composting it.
The small steel blue version is a lovely, faster growing plant with slight more upright leaves, a slight bloom and sturdier genes. Resists everything thrown at it, including cold sogginess and shade, and always looks a happy little chappie, even pupping slowly for me. If you see this one, grab it, it's a great doer, no trouble and very attractive.
The truncata form is super-handsome, but SLOW like you would not believe to settle into a new situation and get those big silvery leaves growing and turning over. Mine was admittedly a puny invalid when it arrived but after patiently excising every iota of rotty old leaf and giving it maximum attention, only now, after two years, has it started deigning to grow instead of sulk. God only knows how long those beautiful specimens we see in the books have taken to get that fabulous.
I also have the 'regular' version which seems smaller, a little more sea-green and with a slightly different, less chunky leaf form than truncata. Got it from a great grower as a tidy young spec and it's never looked back, growing slowly but gratifyingly no matter what's thrown at it. Very attractive pot subject.
Will post pics of my different forms when it warms up.
Because they are so tough and fibrous and slow, it's possible to 'catch' base rot before it's too late. Uproot it and cut away the affected pieces, leave to dry out for a week, and then pot up (mounded) in a highly pumiced mix in dry half shade until new roots are well established. Ive saved a number of struggling parryi this way and theyve all come through the surgery. Dont leave those browning leaves hoping it will go away.
Given excellent drainage they seem to cope with winter water. Cold doesn't seem to be an issue to a healthy plant and Im not surprised to see the zone info people are posting here. Their tough stiff leaves resist hail damage well so they're good candidates for planting out in an exposed situation.
Very nice, just very slow.

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This plant does very great in zone 5b no winter damege these agaves are very hardy. they took on a -13F or lower no protection.

I live in Ellis Co., TX. Plant was here when we moved in a year ago. Started to grow stalk mid-May of this year. Stalk is about 8 ft. high. Blooms appeared from top to bottom, but has started to die off from bottom to top. Now has 2 new plants growing on either side at the bottom . Didn't know the name of plant until I found this site. Anyone know what happens to it now? And do I need to do anything special to promote the new growth?

This plant takes a long time to settle in and look good. My 2" pot pup is finally looking good after 4 years. My 1-year-old one gallon plant still looks bad, but no worse than the pup did after its first winter.

I've had this agave for over 10 years and it is a favorite in my garden. I have given away many of the pups and have seen them survive, even in zone 6. A very slow growing agave, parryi is a real beauty and worth the wait. Pups enough to share but not to much to control.

Great looking highly ornamental Agave with somewhat wide, short pale blue leaves and a dark, sharp terminal spine and small, but very sharp lateral leaf spines. Suckers, but tends to be slow to sucker, so easy to keep control of. Some varieties, like truncata, hardly sucker at all. Very tolerant of drought and just about anything you can do to it. Old plants are highly prized and make great landscaping items, as well as excellent potted plants. Likes full sun, but will tolerate shade.

Seems to be a variable species with several described varieties. And even those seem to have a wide variety of forms within them. Some have narrow leaves, some less blue than others (A pattonii 'variety' decided greener), some have slightly hooked spines, some have big teeth, some small... And probably some that I see listed as this could be something else. Some varieties of this species are more popular than others since they are either variegated or have very wide, ornamental leaves. However, the 'reg' form is still quite attractive and makes a good landscape specimen.