Monday, June 16, 2014

Century Plant in Bloom

I've been fascinated with the Century Plant since we moved here. "Agave Americana," it's also called the American aloe, although it's not an aloe plant. Considering our very wet climate here, it's surprising we have so many examples locally of this plant that thrives in an arid southwest climate. They are huge.
This homeowner in Bayboro (about 20 minutes from us) loves gardening and has at least a couple of large specimens. The Agave Americana lives from 15-30 years, a sturdy old thing. It blooms only once, at the end of its life. So I was pleasantly thrilled to see, when I drove through town a couple of weeks ago, that one of these agaves is in its blooming cycle!
Impressive, yes? If you didn't know better, you'd think they had a tree planted behind the agave.
This tree-like stalk will put out yellow blooms. Maybe I'll get more pics when it does that. Then the plant will die but will send out baby shoots all around.

4 comments:

Pom Pom said...

That's amazing! I've never seen a picture of one. Thank you! Happy Monday, friend.

Lisa Richards said...

That IS impressive! Sad that it will die, but nice to have many babies in its place! :)

GretchenJoanna said...

Thank you, M.K. I love those....I've seen a couple of them in bloom before. But I didn't remember the part about blooming at the end of life. So I suppose there is a ring of babies around the base?

Leslie said...

Interesting. This reminds me of something I would see down where my mom lives on the Texas/Mexico border. It is things like this makes it difficult to understand how people don't believe in God. There is so obviously a Creator. Just look at that. :)