Agaves at Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum

If you’ve followed my blog for any length of time, you probably know that agaves are among my favorite plants. During our recent trip through the Southwest, we spent a day at the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum outside of Tucson and I thought I’d died and gone to heaven. Not only did they have tons of cacti (separate post to follow) but there were agaves wherever I looked.

It started right at the entrance with some spotted specimen:

Agave parryi var. truncata.
The cactus next to it is an organ pipe (Stenocereus thurberi).

The biggest concentrations of agaves was in the appropriately named Agave Garden.

While elsewhere in the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum you will find agaves from Mexico and Central America, the Agave Garden contains only species native to the areas the Museum focuses on, i.e. the Sonoran Desert Region, which also includes parts of the Mohave and Chihuahan deserts.

Since we arrived right at 7:30am when the Museum opens, I had the Agave Garden to myself and could photograph to my heart’s content. I was excited to see many species I had only read about in books. Depending on which taxonomist you ask, there anywhere from 250 to over 300 agave species, most of which are not commonly grown in gardens.

In addition to live specimens, I saw quite a few dead agaves that had finishing blooming (most agaves are monocarpic, i.e. they die after flowering). I was amazed by how colorful some of these dying and dead agaves were.

Here are the species I saw in the Agave Garden:

Agave murpheyi

Agave murpheyi

 

Agave murpheyi

Agave palmeri

Agave palmeri

Agave pelona

 

Agave pelona

Agave multifilifera

Agave multifilifera

Agave multifilifera

Agave shawii ssp. goldmaniana

Agave shawii ssp. goldmaniana

Agave shawii ssp. goldmaniana

Agave avellanidens

Agave gigantensis

Agave moranii

Agave cerulata ssp. nelsonii

Agave vivipara

Agave sisalana

Agave parryi var. couesii

Agave parryi var. couesii

Agave parryi var. huachucensis

Agave parryi var. huachucensis

The Huachuca agave (Agave parry var. huachucensis) was probably the most common agave in the entire Museum. It is native to the Huachuca Mountains in southeastern Arizona. All the photos that follow were taken in other areas, i.e. outside of the Agave Garden.

Agave parryi var. huachucensis

Agave parryi var. huachucensis

Agave parryi var. huachucensis

Agave parryi var. huachucensis

 

Agave parryi var. huachucensis

The remaining photos in this post were taken in the Desert Garden near the restaurants and gallery. This area is meant to inspire homeowners to use more xeric plants in their landscaping.

Agave victoria-reginae

Agave victoria-reginae

Agave victoria-reginae

Agave victoria-reginae

Agave vilmoriniana

  

Agave vilmoriniana

Agave vilmoriniana

Agave chrysoglossa

Agave chrysoglossa

Agave chrysoglossa

Agave colorata

Agave colorata

Agave colorata

Agave bovicornuta

Agave bovicornuta × colorata

Agave bovicornuta × colorata

Agave colorata or Agave bovicornuta × colorata?

Agave colorata or Agave bovicornuta × colorata?

Agave ocahui

Agave arizonica

Agave arizonica

With a name like Agave arizonica, you’d think it’s a common plant in the Grand Canyon State. Far from it. It’s native only to a small area of central Arizona and for many years was included on the Federal List of Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants. More recent research indicates that it’s actually not a separate species but a naturally occurring hybrid between Agave chrysantha, a relatively large agave, and Agave toumeyana var. bella, one of the smallest agaves. This led to its delisting in 2006.

I think it’s a beautiful small agave (maybe 8 inches across at maturity) and I would have loved to bring one home. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to find a local source. I asked Mark Sitter, the owner of B&B Cactus Ranch, during my visit and he explained that there was virtually no demand for it so he wasn’t growing it any longer. Too bad because it really is an attractive plant.

RELATED POSTS:

• Cacti at the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum
• Other treasures at the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum

• Visit to B&B Cactus Farm, part 1
• Visit to B&B Cactus Farm, part 2