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American Agave- Century Plants

 
Posts: 35
Location: Chicago, or South Central Kentucky
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Is it too much to hope for, to try to grow a century plant in garden in Southern Kentucky?
The USDA zone is 6b, with, like, a freckle of 7a.
But things I read say that it's "dependably hardy" down to zone 8.
Probably not, huh?
My mom has one in AL, and I pulled all the pups off it, so I have an armload of baby agaves, but I don't really want to pot them all.
Agave-americana-Century-Plant-American-Aloe1.jpg
[Thumbnail for Agave-americana-Century-Plant-American-Aloe1.jpg]
 
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Posts: 16058
Location: USDA Zone 8a
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When I lived in Dallas, Texas we had winters where it got below freezing, snowed with snow on the ground a couple of days.

I saw Century plants when I lived there so I would say it is possible in the zone you are describing.

Since you have several pups, I would suggest planting half in pots and half outside. If you find that they grow just fine outside then the ones in pots can be moved to plant outside.

It is a beautiful plant.
 
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Location: southern Illinois, USA
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You may want to take a little extra effort to protect it over winter.  People have peach trees in Kansas by wrapping them over winter.
 
Posts: 36
Location: High mountain desert, Northern NM
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I live in the mountains of Northern New Mexico, and the USDA line between 6b and 7a runs right through the neighborhood. Century plants grow reliably here (we had one bloom just up the street a couple of years back, so you know it was a survivor!). They grow semi-wild on the sides of the roads in the mountains, where it freezes pretty hard. I would worry more about the water level in the soil; I don’t think our dirt freezes quite as hard, because when it gets to that time of year it’s usually pretty dry.
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