Reference: Full Sun Agaves

[Gee.S]

And by full sun, we mean sunup-sundown in the Phoenix area. If it will tolerate full sun here, it will tolerate it anywhere.

A. aktites
A. angustifolia
A. americana
A. ×arizonica
A. asperrima (A. scabra)
A. aurea
A. 'Celsii Nova'
A. cerulata
A. chrysantha
A. chrysoglossa
A. colorata
A. delamateri
A. deserti
A. deserti v. simplex
A. desmettiana
A. difformis
A. durangensis
A. filifera
A. flexispina
A. geminiflora
A. ×glomeruliflora
A. guadalajarana
A. havardiana
A. 'Kissho Kan'
A. lechuguilla
A. lophantha *
A. macroacantha *
A. marmorata
A. multifilifera
A. murpheyi
A. nickelsiae
A. ocahui
A. ovatifolia *
A. parrasana
A. parryi
A. pelona
A. potatorum *
A. salmiana *
A. schottii
A. schottii v. treleasei
A. shrevei ssp. matapensis
A. sisalana
A. sobria
A. temacapulinensis
A. toumeyana
A. victoriae-reginae
A. vilmoriniana
A. vivipara
A. weberi
A. xylonacantha *
A. zebra

* variable -- some examples take well to full sun, others may not adapt or require substantial acclimatization

[Gee.S]

I've seen A. avellanidens and A. shawii out in full sun in Tucson, but the DBG in Phoenix protects them with shade cloth in the summer.

[SC FM]

I grow Agave lophantha 'Quadricolor and 'Splendida' as well as Agave parryi ssp. huachuensis here in full sun on the southside of my house in a gravel bed . They look good all year long.

[bigdaddyscondition]

Great list, GeeS. Very helpful, especially now that I'm planting out my newly xeriscaped front yard. My experiences are consistent with this list. For example, the list's caution about full sun was on-target regarding my own specimen of Agave ovatifolia 'Frosty Blue'. A couple of summers ago it got sunburn on a couple of south-facing leaves during a two-week period of triple digit heat. It's done fine through all other summers.

[Gee.S]

Three new additions to the list: A. aurea and A. temacapulinensis have each braved extremes of sun and temp this season without showing stress.

[Gee.S]

Great list, GeeS. Very helpful, especially now that I'm planting out my newly xeriscaped front yard. My experiences are consistent with this list. For example, the list's caution about full sun was on-target regarding my own specimen of Agave ovatifolia 'Frosty Blue'. A couple of summers ago it got sunburn on a couple of south-facing leaves during a two-week period of triple digit heat. It's done fine through all other summers.

Yes, A. ovatifolia can definitely stress in full sun here, but my experience suggests that stress is mitigated with copious amounts of agua.

[DangerGardener]

I just bought an Agave ovatifolia 'Vanzie' (a Kelly Griffith hybrid), an A. 'Shark Bite' (a variegated version of 'Sharkskin Shoes'), and an A. nickelsiae from PlantDelights.com. When they arrive I'll plant the the A. nickelsiae in full sun but the other 2 will be in part sun until they mature. I work at a place where they plant A. ovatifolias (the slightly curly green ones) by the dozens and the younger ones usually have significant leaf burn and are seemingly never watered. They are trying to xeriscape and be waterwise, but they are actually zeroscaping a lot of plants to death by never watering. I see a lot of their agaves and other plants suffering and dying simply because they thought they could survive on rainfall alone so they didn't install sprinklers. How can major landscaping company not know that the six figures worth of plants they bought might need watering? Oh well, they have deep pockets. I always take good care of my plants. Thanks for the helpful full sun guide.

[Melt in the Sun]

I imagine virtually any agave (once established) would have no problem surviving on rainfall alone in Austin. Google tells me an average of 32"/year, which should be plenty. It's that "once established" part that's an issue - A. ovatifolia is one of the thirstier ones, so certainly would appreciate some extra water when small and newly planted. That being said I would be very surprised if they died; I accidentally left one unwatered for over 2 months here and while it suffered, it made it through just fine.

Leaf burn isn't an issue as long as it isn't bad enough to kill the plant outright...just the old greenhouse-pampered leaves will die, but the new ones will be tougher and better looking anyway.

[toditd]

This "Full Sun Agaves" topic, which I refer to often, (thank you Gee.S), used to be pinned at the top of the "Agavaceae Talk" forum, but now it casually drifts on the sonoran heat waves among the other topics of the forum. I propose that it be re-pinned to the top of the forum like it once was with the other few reference topics. Would anyone like to second the motion?

[Azuleja]

"I second that emotion"

[Gee.S]

I usually pin and unpin this and the hardiness thread seasonally.

[Neli]

I dont know names so I shall post pictures of what I have in full sun for 5 years plus.>>>Africa.

[Minime8484]

I have had success with the following in full sun in Chandler:
- A. azurea
- A. decipiens
- A. kerchovei
- A. striata

[mcvansoest]

Minime, since I am about to put both A. azurea and A. decipiens in the ground in what will be a full on full sun experience here in Mesa (near Guadalupe and the 101), I am wondering what kind of summer watering regime you maintain for these plants and if they are on an irrigation system.

[Minime8484]

I don't have any of my plants on irrigation systems. A. azurea seems to appreciate a bit of extra water to get thru the mid-summer months, but A. decipiens less so. I'm out of town quite often - and this summer I was hardly around at all. A typical summer I water by hand (so not heavily) 1x per week during the worst weather; this year I was lucky to get it done 1x per month. A. decipiens showed stress, but other than tightening up, A. azurea seemed unfazed. I'm not too far from you at Cooper/McQueen.

[mickthecactus]

Three new additions to the list: A. aurea and A. temacapulinensis have each braved extremes of sun and temp this season without showing stress.

Three?

[Gee.S]

Too late now, I'm invoking statute of limitations. Three it is.

BTW, do you even know what the sun looks like?

[mickthecactus]

Very cruel........

[Melt in the Sun]

Minime and McV - my A. azurea survived summer here in-ground and totally un-irrigated. Greg told me "HYPER-arid" and so I believed him. While it didn't look thrilled and some leaves did burn, it never looked like it was in serious danger. Since our summer here was so hot, our Tucson summer was perhaps approaching a "typical" Phoenix summer.

[mcvansoest]

Great info Minime and MitS. I am filling a hole left by a monster A. weberi that got knocked out by weevils as it was working on its flowering stalk. It was a weberi that 4 years before the end of it is life managed to adjust from lots of shade (under a tree) to absolutely full sun (when the tree was blown over in a monsoon storm and not allowed to grow back). It did that without any help from me - it was already too big then to try and cover it with shade cloth - it got some severely sunburnt leaves the first summer or so, but it produces new leaves so relatively rapidly that it grew into more sun resistant leaves quickly.

It left a big gaping hole though so plenty of space for new plants, but given its full sun exposure, not every Agave will just plop in there and be fine.

As to additions to the list. I can say that my version of Agave colorata x bovicornuta - a more grey version than the much more green 'Mad Cow' plants does really well. Some yellowing of the older leaves the last few summers, but given that those were brutal that is not a surprise.

Given that one person's full sun is not quite like another person's full sun, I figured mentioning what I have in absolute full sun doing OK, would not hurt even though all of these are already on the list:

A. americana (variegated)
A. angustifolia
A. asperrima
A. cerulata (looks most like ssp. cerulata)
A. chrysantha
A. 'emerald envy' (while not directly related to KLC's plant, I have seen his plant in person and can say that my BBS bought plant is the same thing)
A. funkiana (though it got some bad sun burn on one, yes one, leaf this year, not sure why).
A. 'kissho kahn' (though it gets pretty unhappy each summer)
A. lophantha
A. macroacantha
A. marmorata
A. nickelsiae
A. parryi ssp. parryi
A. parryi ssp. huachuchensis
A. parryi var. truncata
A. sobria
A. victoriae-reginae
A. vilmoriniana
A. vivipara
A. xylonacantha (one, the smaller plant is fine, but my bigger plant wants shade covering every summer still)

The rest of my plants get some shade during the day so would not qualify

[Neli]

Is there a topic: Agaves that need some shade?

[Pfancy]

Do hybrids count? Agave sharkskin will take a beating. Also gentryi jaws and salmiana “green goblet” get full sun here.

[mcvansoest]

Does any one have any experience with A. sebastiana in the full sun?

I have a plant that either needs a bigger pot (not my preferred option) or go into the ground. I have some morning sun only space, but would like to only use that on plants that really really need it.
I have had the sebastiana in my back yard at first under a shade cloth of about 40-50% and then partially shaded by an old patio chair, so it has seen some decent sun, but nothing like it would if I plopped it in the front yard...

[Gee.S]

Cannot say with certainty, but I suspect sebastiana would turn to ash sometime around early June.

[mcvansoest]

That is my worry. Its habitat is super arid, but not really up there with the crazy temperatures and it gets occasional morning fogginess... The plant has three offsets, so I am toying with the idea of just doing it, but... I lost enough plants over the last summer mostly due to the move, that I do not really want to add plants to that tally by willfully putting them in a situation where I pretty much know they are going to fail, choices choices...