Cold hardiness

Future

2050

2100

These values are location-based: this location's current hardiness is the baseline, and the 2050 value is a projected future climate for this same location.

Now

Zone 6b

USDA

Published baseline for this location from 1991-2020.

Source: USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023 (1991-2020 climatology) via ArcGIS FeatureServer

Won't grow here

2050

Zone 7a

Plotwright

Projected zone for this same location in 2050 (2041-2070) using SSP3-7.0 (regional rivalry).

Marginal

In plain terms: This location is in Zone 6b today. Its hardiness profile is cold winters, and coldest nights are typically around -3°F. By 2050, the projected hardiness zone is Zone 7a based on SSP3-7.0 (regional rivalry). That is a +0.5-zone shift from Zone 6b to Zone 7a by 2050.

✕→⚠

Out of range today, but marginally possible by 2050.

Heat tolerance

Future

2050

2100

Heat tolerance values are location-based too: heat days today are observed at this site, and the 2050 value projects this same location under a future climate.

Loading AHS heat-zone data for this location...

Where this plant fits

Suitable across 43 ecoregions — 40 climate-resilient through 2070 · 3 newly possible by 2070. Best matches first.

Appalachian mixed mesophytic forests

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Appalachian-Blue Ridge forests

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Arizona Mountains forests

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Atlantic coastal pine barrens

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Blue Mountains forests

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California coastal sage and chaparral

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Canadian Aspen forests and parklands

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Central Pacific Northwest coastal forests

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Central Tallgrass prairie

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Central-Southern Cascades Forests

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What it needs

Conditions

Light

Full sun

Water

Low water

Spacing

36"

Habit

Rosette-forming evergreen succulent that suckers into a colony of rosettes

Care tips

•

Sharp drainage is everything — plant in gritty, fast-draining soil or a raised/container site; soggy soil rots the roots.

•

Cold-hardy to Zone 7 only when winter cold is dry; in wet-winter or humid climates, grow it in a movable container.

•

Wear gloves and eye protection when handling — the spiny leaf margins and terminal spine are sharp; site it away from paths and play areas.

Lifecycle

Planting

Plant in full sun in sandy/gritty, dry-to-medium-moisture, very well-drained soil. Sharp drainage is essential — poorly drained soil inevitably leads to root rot. Tolerates some light shade. In Zones below 7, grow in a container that can be moved under cover for winter.

Transplanting

Move container or rooted offsets into sharply drained soil; keep the crown above grade and avoid burying it. Wear gloves and eye protection — the marginal teeth and terminal spine are sharp.

Early growth

Water sparingly while roots establish, then let the soil dry between waterings. Overwatering and overly fertile, moist soil are the main causes of failure. Cold tolerance holds best when winter cold is dry rather than wet.

Maturity

Mature rosettes reach about 2 feet tall by 3 feet wide. Each rosette flowers only once — usually after 10-15 years, sometimes 20-30 — sending up a single stalk to 20 feet with 20-30 side branches of creamy-yellow flowers in summer (June-August). The flowering rosette dies afterward, but offsets from its base carry the colony on.

Propagation

Propagate by removing and rooting the suckers/offsets that form at the base of the rosette — the standard garden-scale method. Seed is possible after the rare flowering but is far slower.

Pollination

Self-incompatible

Agave parryi flowers only once per rosette, after 10-30 years, on a single tall stalk of creamy-yellow flowers. The Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center records its flowers as a nectar source for insects and hummingbirds, with fruit eaten by birds and mammals. Like other agaves it is effectively self-incompatible, relying on pollinators — bees, hummingbirds, and (in its native range) nectar-feeding bats — to move pollen between separate flowering plants. The decades-long wait and single bloom mean its garden pollinator value is rare but spectacular when it comes.

Plants don't grow alone

Nectar forage

Bird

Ruby-throated hummingbird (Archilochus colubris)

The Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center lists Agave parryi's flowers as a nectar source for hummingbirds. The tall, tubular yellow flower clusters are a classic hummingbird-pollinated agave inflorescence, though in this species' native Southwest the local hummingbird species differ from the eastern ruby-throated; flowering is rare (once per rosette).

Nectar forage

Bee

European honeybee (Apis mellifera)

The Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center records the flowers as a nectar source for insects; bees forage the creamy-yellow flower clusters during the rare flowering event.

For people

Edible with preparation

Missouri Botanical Garden PlantFinder records that Native Americans used Agave parryi as a source of food, fiber, soap, and medicine, and that its liquids may be fermented into the alcoholic beverage pulque and distilled into mescal. The common name 'mescal' reflects this. Like other agaves, the raw plant is not eaten out of hand — the hearts are traditionally roasted/cooked and the sap fermented; raw agave sap contains irritant compounds. Treat culinary use as requiring traditional preparation, not casual snacking.

Native range

Native across 3 US states.

AHS heat range

6-12

Native ecoregions

Naturally belongs in 9 ecoregions — its native range crosses a state or province each one spans (not necessarily this exact habitat).

Arizona Mountains forests

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Chihuahuan desert

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Colorado Rockies forests

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Cross-Timbers savanna-woodland

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Edwards Plateau savanna

Southeast US conifer savannas

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Climate notes

•

Missouri Botanical Garden PlantFinder lists Agave parryi as reliably winter hardy to USDA Zones 7-10, in full sun and dry water, in sandy/gritty well-drained soil; it notes plants have reportedly survived winters as low as -20F (USDA Zone 5) provided the cold is "dry cold" rather than "wet cold."

•

Missouri Botanical Garden PlantFinder records the species as drought- and dry-soil-tolerant, native to grasslands, chaparral, desert scrub, and pinyon-juniper and oak woodlands of Arizona, New Mexico, and northern Mexico at 4,000-8,000 feet elevation; sharp drainage is critical because poorly drained soil leads to root rot.

•

The Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center documents Agave parryi ssp. parryi (USDA symbol AGPAP5) as native to the lower-48 US in Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas, and flags it as cold tolerant, heat tolerant, and low water use.

•

Tolerates warm to extreme summer heat — a high-desert Southwest succulent adapted to hot, arid grasslands and desert scrub; thrives in Extreme-tier summer heat given sharp drainage and is not suited to humid, wet-winter climates.

In the designer

Growth over time

18-24" tall · 24-36" spread

Mature 2-foot-tall by 3-foot-wide symmetrical rosette with a clustering colony of offsets.

Design roles: Focal point · Structure · Container

Seasonal interest

Spring

Summer

Fall

Winter

Filled = the plant has seasonal interest · ▾ now = your current season

Parry's agave

At a glance

Why it matters

Cold hardiness

Heat tolerance

Where this plant fits

What it needs

Lifecycle

Pollination

Plants don't grow alone

For people

Native range

Climate notes

In the designer

Seasonal interest

Sources & citations