I'm probably one of the ones you read on HMF but here's my opinion. Snow Ruby has beautiful form. She won Mini Queen for me last June. Plant gets to about a foot tall with shiny dark green leaves. Some black spot but not too bad. This was it's second season for me and I'm hoping it will get a little bigger next year. It did die back nearly to the ground last winter. But that really won't be a problem for you.

Difficult to kill these through neglect, especially in a climate like yours or mine (zone 9). I potted up small pups of a. americana into 4-inch terra cotta pots. Just put them outside under a pine tree in a somewhat sheltered area. Might water them in Summer once in a while. They don't seem to mind exposure, cold, rain, no water. These plants will grow faster if you give them the conditions they thrive in, but if you don't they are content to wait. Small well-formed agaves in pots make real nice accent plants. I would make sure your pot is not too large for your plant, and perhaps a little more time in the greenhouse would be better than bringing the pup into the house. After all, you did find it growing there. Water? Spritz it. Too much water on the roots now is not a good idea. Cacti know how to take water out of the air and off of their skin.

It's not first hand, but the information at San Marcos Growers on Blue Glow reads: Agave 'Blue Glow' - A beautiful smaller Agave with solitary rosettes slowly growing to 2 feet tall and 3 feet across with 18 inch long by 1-1 1/2 inch wide blue green leaves that have red margins edged with yellow and bearing tiny soft spines and a stout short red terminal spine. Plant in full sun. Little irrigation required. Though hardiness is not known, our original plant has withstood temperatures of 28 F and we suspect the plant should be much hardier; Agave ocahui is known to tolerate temperatures down to 15 ° F and thought to be able to able to go down to 5° F - time will tell. Great in containers or in groups - especially nice where back lighting can light up the red and yellow margin. This hybrid between Agave attenuata (possibly 'Nova') and A. ocahui was originally reported to be a Kelly Griffin hybrid but some now dispute this. It is a beautiful plant that looks nothing like either parent though it apparently inherits the more durable tougher leaves, smaller size, solitary habit and sharp terminal spine of Agave ocahui and gets the broader leaves and blue green color from Agave attenuata. We have seen this plant described as similar to Agave 'Blue Flame' - while both are in the genus Agave and both have blue green colored leaves, this is where the similarities end as Agave 'Blue Glow' is a much smaller, solitary plant with stiff leaves and really looks nothing like large clump-forming soft-leafed Agave 'Blue Flame'. We received our original plant of 'Blue Flame' from the Huntington Botanic Garden in 2005. The description above is based on our research and observations of this plant growing in our nursery and in our own and other Santa Barbara gardens. We would appreciate hearing from anyone who has additional information or disagrees with what we have written. In 9b (my zone too), it should have no difficulty given adequate drainage. Brad

I have two large Blue Glows in copper planters on a stone patio. We live at the coast where the temperatures don't usually exceed 78. Whenever there is a heat wave and the temperature goes up to 85 or above, my agaves scorch. I was surprised to learn that metal planters on a stone patio create a temperature as high as 150 degrees. Consequently, I move them into the shade when the weather heats up. I hated looking at the ugly scorch marks so I painted them! The flesh is dead anyway so paint won't hurt them. I mixed acrylic paint to match the leaves and painted all the scorch marks. They look beautiful again and my husband couldn't tell where they were painted.