Many gardeners do not want to do without the Mediterranean flair of succulents like the agave in the garden. However, in Central Europe not all agave species can be overwintered outdoors without problems and without protection.

Some agave species are hardy

It depends on the exact subspecies

A total of more than 300 subspecies belonging to the plant genus Agave are known today. These sometimes differ greatly in size and growth rate as well as in color appearance. However, all agaves have in common that they can store a lot of water in their thick-fleshed leaves like a cactus. In this country, this will be their undoing in particularly wintry temperatures, since the leaves then freeze through and usually turn yellow and die off in spring at the latest. But there are also agave species from mountain regions such as the agave parryi or the agave utahensis. They can tolerate temperatures as low as minus 15 degrees Celsius and can therefore survive the winter outdoors in mild climates.

There is a worse enemy than the winter cold

The freezing cold of winter is not the only enemy that poses a substantial threat to agaves in the winter garden. Almost worse than the frost itself is the intense humidity, which sometimes causes the first signs of rot on the roots and leaves of the agaves as early as autumn. So that waterlogging does not become a problem for your agaves, you can move specimens in pots to a covered place in the garden from late summer. During the winter you can also rely on the following measures:

  • surrounded the plants themselves with coarse gravel and shards of pottery
  • cover the agaves (a foil cover would ensure a moisture build-up)
  • Always plant agaves on a slight slope at an angle

Slightly tilting the plants in the bed ensures that rainwater can run off and does not collect on the leaf rosettes.

This is how the not frost hardy agaves are overwintered properly

Agaves that are not hardy are protected from the rain in autumn and moved to a cold house for the winter at temperatures between 7 and 10 degrees Celsius. A garage, an unheated conservatory or a stairwell can serve as a cold house with as much daylight as possible and temperatures between 10 and 15 degrees Celsius.

tips

Even more important for the care of any agave in winter than during the summer is a relatively pronounced drought at the roots of the plant. Large specimens of the Agave americana can sometimes also be overwintered outdoors if they are packed up as dry as possible and protected from the worst frosts with a cover.

Category:

Vegetable garden