Agave palmeri

[Nold]

I have more things die from snow cover than cold.  Makes the yuccas, agave, and cactus rot around here. 

Same here.
Though, if it's cold when the snow falls, and the snow is "dry", then there's less trouble. It's when the snow "melts" (really, evaporates) but not quite completely, then more snow falls, that spells doom.
Another thing that's a killer is a layer of ice right on the ground. That's only happened here once. It killed everything from South Africa, killed a lot of cactus, too.
I went out and put a small piece of frost fabric over Agave palmeri. I could have kept the plant indoors for a few winters, but it was free, so I figure, what the heck.

Bob

[Hoy]

Hey, anyone out there that wants some dasylirion w. seed I still have some from a plant close to this one.

Aaron, do you still have some seed? I would love to try! Don't know what to trade with - not many desert plants here

Dry snow cover? Here the snow is always wet . . . .
Although I am familiar with dry snow cover in the mountains. At our cabin we prefere a thick snow cower.

[DesertZone]

Aaron, do you still have some seed? I would love to try! Don't know what to trade with - not many desert plants here

Dry snow cover? Here the snow is always wet . . . .
Although I am familiar with dry snow cover in the mountains. At our cabin we prefere a thick snow cower.

I still have some, just pm your address.

It get so clod here that the snow falls very dry and can not pack together. 

[Nold]

 Dry snow cover?

Yes, dry. If the ground is dry before it snows, and the snow doesn't melt (which it rarely does here from about now until February...it evaporates, technically, sublimates), then the plants are not wet, just cold.
If it rains first, or the snow is not quite frozen when it first falls, and more snow falls on top of that, then it's time to order new plants ...
As far as I'm aware, agaves and their relatives have no mechanism for moisture loss that allows them to endure subfreezing temperatures. There are a number of species that routinely experience temperatures of -10C (note, celsius) in the wild, but none that experience temperatures much colder than that. I imagine that the species that do infrequently see -17C have evolved some sort of way of increasing the sugar solution to lower the freezing point of the water in their leaves, but I don't know what it is, and don't know of any studies.
I might ask around.
The coldest temperature I've been able to find for the Chihuahuan Desert is -30C at Villa Ahumada in Chihuahua. But not every winter.
Does that make sense?
Here is Agave havardiana (or the tips of it anyway), same plants I photographed a week or so ago, this morning. These plants come from the Davis Mountains in western Texas. Still not a very cold place, but maybe just cold enough. We'll see.

Bob

[DesertZone]

Bob, makes total sense.

[Weiser]

What's this talk of snow? 
We have been dry and cold since the the beginning of November. Just a little on the top of the Sierras. It could change very quickly though. In truth, I hope it dose, water is always at a premium no matter what form it takes. 

[DesertZone]

 water is always at a premium no matter what form it takes. 

I agree, as much as I dont like it we need all we can get.

[Nold]

What's this talk of snow? 

 

Though a lot of residents will deny it, Denver has nine months of snow. It snows at the slightest provocation, and this is possibly the only place on the planet where the forecast has been 85F (29.4C) with snow at night.
It snows here more than it does in Minneapolis. I counted over one hundred separate snowfalls between Sept. 1st and June 1st one year. Every time you turn around, it's snowing.


Bob

[Lori S.]

Calgary's weather patterns are similar... it's nice to live close to the mountains but, boy, they do mess up the weather!  We sometimes get snow in June, and snow in September is common... but on the other hand, I would find it far too depressing to claim we have ten months of snow. 

[Nold]

As long as I see hellebores and snowdrops blooming in January, I guess I don't care.

How's that collection for my villa on the Italian Rivera coming?


Bob

[Nold]

Just looked at my Agave palmeri after our cold snap. It's NDY. (Not Dead Yet.)


Bob
 

[Hoy]

Bob, makes total sense.

Yes, perfectly.

 water is always at a premium no matter what form it takes. 

I agree, as much as I dont like it we need all we can get.

Not me. I would prefere much less of the stuff especially in fall and winter. My friends would say much less in summer too

[Nold]

Now it's dead. Or doomed.
Odd that this is a "high elevation form" (Chiricahuas) and yet A. parryi var. huachucensis (Huachucas) is perfectly hardy here. According to Nobel (Environmental Biology of Agaves and Cacti) the laboratory results of cold hardiness tests of these two taxa are roughly the same.
I'll try palmeri again next year.


Bob

[DesertZone]

Here's a pic of one from high in the chiricahua nat'l mon., looks very different than the ones in the valley.  Maybe its something different?