Posted by Tim MA z6 on October 20, 2006, 8:08 am, in reply to "Re: no luck with agave havardiana" all the utahensis species don't do well in our climate. My guess is that it's too moist. Even during summer the utahensis species seem to slowly decline in health. Our cold does not kill them, it's the excess moisture which rots them out. A. montana seems to grow fast in our climate but was not super hardy. I'd estimate it can handle down to 10-15F (-9 to -12C) or so with our excess moisture. The ones I tested died before temps dropped below 0F (-18C) so I'm unclear exactly what temp killed them. My plants were seed grown from Mesa? And were not all that big, perhaps 3" (7.5 cm) in diameter when tested. I don't recall source. Mckelveyana was one of the better performers in our climate. Smaller ones lived for several seasons with little damage. When I moved to Massachusetts from Rhode Island I dug one up but it didn't survive the transplant due to my lack of attention. I want to try more of these. Lophantha is a great performer in summer here and grows fast. Mine was plastered against a south facing wall and did OK. Colder than normal winters would give it lots of damage or kill the above ground plant. Suckers would emerge the next spring. I'd say it's hardy to perhaps 5-10F (-12C to -15C) with no protection in our climate. Lophantha damage in spring 2001....it did regrow from the center spear Lophantha damage in spring 2003...this one killed it to the ground but a sucker did emerge. It doesn't look all that bad yet but in a few more weeks it all browned out. Oh yea, I also tried and killed the following. A. macroculmis
Hi Jan, 
A. chrysantha
A. palmeri
A. parviflora
A. schottii
A. toumeyana
A. toumeyana v bella
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