Blue Glow Agave

Location

Cactus & Succulent Garden

Agave attenuata

  • Common Name: Blue Glow Agave (other common names: Agave, Century Plant, Maguey)
  • Scientific Name: Agave ‘Blue Glow’ or Agave attenuata x Agave ocahui
  • Family Name: Asparagaceae
  • Origin: Mexico
  • Height: 1’ – 2’
  • Width: 2’ – 3’
  • Growth: slow growing
  • Zone: 9 – 11
  • Light Needs: Full sun – Partial shade
  • Salt Tolerance:  unknown
  • Soil/PH/Texture: grows in dry soil, shallow rocky soil, or in sandy/gritty, dry to medium moisture, well-drained soils (cactus-type potting mix).
  • Soil Moisture: dry to medium (best growth occurs when soils receive even moisture)
  • Drought Tolerance: moderate
  • Pests/Diseases: No serious insect or disease problems, but it can get rot root if overwatered or Agave snout weevil, slugs and snails may damage foliage.
  • Growing Conditions: easy to grow, medium maintenance
  • Characteristics: It takes about 10 – 15 years to bloom, but when they do, they are showy, 2” – 3” long, bloom in panicles, greenish-yellow in color, and a have a 10-foot tall flowering stalk in the center of their solitary symmetrical foliage rosette. This hybrid is monocarpic (blooms only once and then dies and does not produce offsets). Each of its rosettes consists of a tight whorl of succulent, rigid, thick, chalky blue-green leaves (to 18” long and 1 1/2” wide) and are almost spineless. The leaves have a very bright red margin edged by an even thinner yellow line and a pointy red terminal tip.
  • Propagation: it does not produce pups off the mother plant and the seeds cannot be relied on to produce true, so it has to be replaced by a new plant when it dies.
  • Wildlife: unknown
  • Facts: ‘Blue Glow’ (Agave attenuata x Agave ocahui) was hybridized and was introduced in Rancho Santa Fe, California by Kelly Griffin of Rancho Soledad Nurseries.
  • Designer Considerations: Use in rock or succulent/cactus gardens, as an accent or small specimen plant, it also grows well in containers on a patio or as an indoor plant.
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