Agave 'Blue Flame'
Agave' 'Blue Flame is a clumping hybrid Agave valued for its soft, flame-shaped blue-green leaves that arch outward like tongues of fire. Widely planted as a landscape and container succulent, it is a hybrid between Agave shawii (the seed parent) and Agave attenuata (the pollen parent), combining the toughness of the former with the smooth, spineless elegance of the latter. Its parentage gives it a gentler, less menacing look than most agaves, though each leaf still ends in a sharp terminal spine.
Description
Agave 'Blue Flame' forms substantial rosettes — commonly around 60–90 cm tall but reaching up to roughly 1.5 m tall and wider on old specimens — with the plant offsetting freely from the base to build up a spreading colony over time. The leaves are smooth, fleshy and a soft blue to blue-green, flexing gracefully upward and outward so that a well-grown clump reads as a cluster of flickering flames — the trait behind the name.
Unlike many agaves, the leaf margins carry only fine, inconsequential teeth, but each leaf still ends in a sharp, inward-curving terminal spine; the plant is less fiercely armed than spikier relatives, yet it is not spineless. Colour deepens toward a cooler blue in strong light and softens to green in shade.
Cultivation
Care follows the parent species; grow it as for Agave attenuata and other tender, offsetting agaves. 'Blue Flame' thrives in full sun to light shade in a fast-draining mineral mix, and is happy in the ground in frost-free climates or in a wide container elsewhere. Water regularly through the warm months and sparingly in winter, always letting the soil dry between drinks — see Watering for general technique.
It is not fully cold-hardy and should be protected from frost; foliage may be damaged by temperatures in the mid-20s °F (around −4 °C), though established plants usually recover. In brighter, hotter positions the blue colour intensifies; in deeper shade the rosettes stretch and green up. Because clumps expand steadily, give the plant room or lift and divide it periodically (see Repotting).
Propagation
This hybrid is grown almost entirely from its abundant offsets, or pups, which appear around the base of established plants. Separate a rooted pup and pot it up in a gritty mix, following Propagation — offsets. Like most agaves it flowers only once at the end of a mature rosette's life; the offsets carry the clone on long after.
See also
- Agave — the genus overview
- Agave attenuata · Agave shawii — parent species
- Soil and potting mix · Watering · Propagation — offsets · Repotting