Scientific: Agave x 'Blue Glow'
Common: blue glow agave
Family: Asparagaceae (subfamily Agavoideae)
Origin: Hybrid cross of Agave ocahui and Agave attenuata developed and introduced by Kelly Griffin of Rancho Soledad Nurseries in Rancho Santa Fe, California.
Pronounciation: A-GA-ve BLEW GLOO
Hardiness zones
Sunset 12-24
USDA 8 (with protection), 9-11
Landscape Use: Wonderful textural accent plant or focal point for entryways, courtyards, raised planters, rock gardens, and smaller oasis and mesic landscape beds where a textural accent plant is desired, very nice container plant and a great plant for 'back lighting' in landscapes at night. This is not an agave for Phoenix highly exposed and large scaled xeric or desert landscapes.
Form & Character: Upright, stiff and reaching, yet somewhat diminuative in stature, elegant, people friendly, Mediterranean-like.
Growth Habit: Evergreen, succulent and fibrous, herbaceous perennial, monocarpic, grows to 2-feet tall and 3-feet wide, only rarely grows basal offshoots.
Foliage/Texture: Strap-shaped, fibrous blue-green leaves, 18-inches long by 1- to 1.5-inch wide, leaves have distinct golden and red ribbons on the margins edged with yellow bearing tiny soft spines and a stout, short, red terminal spine at the leaf apex; medium texture.
Flowers & Fruits: Produces a tall stalk with beautiful greenish yellow flowers after 7 to 15 years (average 10 to 12 years); fruits sterile (seed not viable) and sometimes after flowering grows bulbils. Remember its monocarpic, so after flowering the plant dies.
Seasonal Color: None
Temperature: Cold tolerant to 15oF and heat tolerant to 115oF.
Light: In Phoenix, mostly full sun. Some protection from western afternoon summer sun is best. Full sun in southern California. Will tolerate partial shade conditions.
Soil: Tolerant of all soil textures (prefers a sandy loam) as long as the soil is well drained. This agave is moderately salt tolerant.
Watering: Regular supplemental water about every two weeks during summer is best in Phoenix, but in southern California only very little to no supplemental water is needed. Supplemental water somewhat increases plant growth rate and eventual size.
Pruning: None required.
Propagation: Division of basal offshoots or rooting of bulbils (both propagule resources rarely available), tissue culture.
Disease and Pests: Agave snout weevil (Scyphophorus acupunctatus) will attack many agave species in the low desert of Arizona, root rot might occur, particularly in poorly-drained and/or overly-irrigated soils.
Additional comments: This is a very handsome, small to intermediate-sized agave that requires some afternoon protection in Phoenix in order to survive because of its sensitivity to extreme Phoenix summer heat in tandem with intense afternoon summer sun. This agave hybrid is quite popular in southern California coastal areas, such as Los Angeles where no environmental protection is required.
