Agave americana 'Mediopicta Alba'

'Kegon' is the Japanese trade name for Agave americana 'Mediopicta Alba', the white centre-striped form of the large Mexican century plant. A broad greenish-cream stripe runs down the middle of each blue-green leaf while the margins stay blue-green, which separates it from the yellow-striped 'Mediopicta' and from the yellow-edged marginata forms. A US grower gives it as about 90-120 cm tall and 120-180 cm wide, smaller than the species, and a US specialist nursery notes that it offsets slowly and, because of its leaf-layer arrangement, is one of the few variegated agaves that cannot be tissue-cultured. The leaf margins carry recurved teeth and the tip a long spine, and the sap can irritate skin, so plant it away from paths. It flowers only after about a decade; the flowering rosette then dies and is replaced by offsets. In Japan it is widely sold under the name Kegon, from small pots for dry gardens to large specimens.

The Agave americana 'Mediopicta Alba' grows to 90-120 cm tall, 120-180 cm wide (mature, in the ground).

Light feeder; a little slow-release fertiliser in the growing season is enough