Pronounciation: A-GA-ve x awe-hoe-EN-sis

Hardiness zones
Sunset 12-24
USDA 9-11

Landscape Use: Diminuative textural accent, xeric and desert theme landscapes, container plant.

Form & Character: Small, clumping and spreading, stiff and pointed, yet not threatening.

Growth Habit: Evergreen, herbaceous forb, monocarpic, basally spreading by rhizomes to form a dense and thick clump, 12 to 18 inches tall by 3 feet wide, eventual size influenced by available water.

Foliage/Texture: Narrow, linear-lanceolate, strap-shaped leaves, fibrous, somewhat reflexed and inflexible to 12 inches in length, margins entire, nonfiliferous, unarmed, tapering to a pointed reddish brown apex (tip), glaucous green; medium texture.

Flowers & Fruits: Yellow tubular, funnelform flowers, clustered, 3 to 6 per cluster on a densely-branched scape or stalk (10 feet height); fruits are short-pedicellate brown capsules.

Seasonal Color: None, except when flowering in late spring and summer.

Temperature: Very tolerant of Phoenix temperatures given the close proximity of its native range to the city.

Light: Full sun to light filtered shade.

Soil: Well-drained soils are best.

Watering: Apply only occasional water once established. It readily responds to water by increasing growth and eventual size.

Pruning: None

Propagation: Division of basal offsets is the most common way, seed (if you can find them on a reproductive stalk).

Disease and Pests: Yes, all agaves are prone to some root rot if soils are chronically wet and not well drained, but othewrwise this agave is mostly disease and pest free.

Additional comments: Overall, this is a diminuative and relatively small agave that is best used in close proximity to human traffic as it can otherwise become lost in the landscape. Overall, less commonly seen in Phoenix landscapes and is of more interest to collectors and native plant enthusiasts. Because of its tolerance to local climate conditions, I argue that Ajo mountain agave should be used more in Phoenix desert landscapes as a small landscape shrub than it presently is.

Agave x ajoensis is a rare, naturally-occurring hybrid cross between A. schottii var. schottii and A. deserti var. simplex. All agaves are monocots.