Besides being known for her popular dwarf aloe hybrids, Karen Zimmerman sometimes dabbles with hybridization of other genera. This is the first mangave hybrid she has introduced. xMangave ‘Tracy Paz’ is named for one of Karen’s dearest friends, who is an accomplished artist and loves agaves. Karen crossed one of her favorite agave species, A. parrasana, with Manfreda maculosa, which not only has beautifully spotted foliage, but also a lovely flower color progression: white buds opening to pink, and aging to burgundy. We planted 72 seedlings in the narrow bed along the shade house in our nursery for evaluation. There was quite a range to choose from, but Karen was hoping for a hybrid that looked most like A. parrasana but with purple spots. All of them have spots, but Clone 50 stood out overall, and while not a parrasana look-alike, it forms a lovely rosette to about 3 ft across with waxy blue-white leaves aging to grey green with lots of purple-red spots and splashes. The inflorescence was a standout as well, being a more compact panicle, about 6 ft tall, with a dense cloud of yellow flowers. We offer rooted plants from tissue culture of HBG 145787, $12.
Published in the Cactus and Succulent Journal, Vol. 97 (2), Summer 2025