Agave montana

Agave montana, or Mountain Agave, is not a desert plant but a robust mountain species that is quite easy to acclimatise in our gardens. Its hardiness is often highlighted, which is quite exceptional for a plant with such an exotic appearance, but its resistance to intense frost is only confirmed if the plant is grown in perfectly drained soil and under a dry climate, without winter rains. This rare species reproduces only by sowing. It charms with the beautiful contrast of colours offered by its large leaves, which are partially powdered with white and adorned with lateral and terminal spines of a coppery orange. Its rosette blooms like a flower, in a regular cup shape, composed of numerous overlapping leaves. With a fierce armour that requires a certain distance from high-traffic areas, it possesses a unique architectural presence that can be enjoyed in full sun or partial shade, in a large rock garden, on a slope, or in an elevated bed, in most regions.

While recognising agaves can sometimes be a specialist affair, Agave montana presents unique characteristics that make it difficult to confuse with any other plant.

Discovered in the late 90s growing between 3000 and 3500m (9843ft and 11483ft) altitude in the clear understory of mountains located in northeastern Mexico, it is a rather slow-growing botanical species belonging to the Asparagaceae family (formerly Agavaceae), just like yuccas or tuberose. This perennial succulent plant has rhizomes that generally reproduce through its seeds and never produces daughter rosettes. It is almost devoid of aerial stems. Its dense rosette, in the shape of an upright cup, will reach an average height of 1m (3ft) and a diameter of 1.2m (4ft) at maturity. It is composed of bright green leaves, whose base is irregularly covered with a white bloom, forming wavelets of light on the plant's epidermis. They are wide at the base, rather concave, upright, and taper with an acute angle towards the tip. The end of each leaf terminates in a long spine of coppery orange colour. The edge of the leaves is provided with regularly spaced spines of the same orange tone. When a rosette is mature, after many years, it produces a floral stem that can reach a height of 3m (10ft). It bears a few horizontal branches. The branches bear flat and spherical panicles. The rosette, characterised as semelparous, dies after flowering, which lasts several months.

This very hardy agave will find its place in a large rock garden, a south-facing slope, or at the edges of a dry garden, where its remarkably architectural silhouette will stand out against a mineral backdrop, punctuated by some wild grasses such as Stipa ichu or Stipa gigantea. It can be planted with all kinds of hardy plants with exotic looks, such as Prickly Pears and other Opuntias, Ferula communis, and quite hardy columnar cacti (Cleistocactus strausii, Cylindropuntia imbricata), which are all equally undemanding plants. A good way to highlight agaves is to place ground cover plants for dry soil at their feet: evening primroses, Osteospermum, dwarf artemisias, Ceratostigma plumbaginoides, and Delosperma cooperi, whose foliage will cover the gap left by a dead plant. This agave can also be cultivated in a pot on a terrace, among a collection of cacti, by carefully choosing the sunniest spot. Remember to keep this beautiful plant away from high-traffic areas and young children!

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, and it has proven antifungal properties. Its inflorescences are very attractive to many pollinating insects.