Friday, May 17, 2019

Century Plants


The Century Plant is an agave that is ubiquitous to the desert southwest. The plant gets it's name from that fact that it is slow to bloom and only blooms at the end of it's life.  However, once it blooms, it produces small plants that will grow into new agave plants.

When it blooms, it sends up a tall stalk topped with blooms.  Sometimes they can be 25 to 30 feet tall.

The one in the top photo  was bent over.  I haven't seen that happen before unless there is something stunting it's growth.













The blooms start out looking like this.


Then they turn an orange color at the tips.


And, finally they open up to these yellow blooms.

They really are a stately looking plant and interesting to watch as the blooms progress!

10 comments:

biebkriebels said...

Spectacular, have never seen this one before.

Steve Reed said...

I hear those flower stalks can be very heavy. They certainly are dramatic!

Catarina said...

Beautiful! I have never seen one up close!

RedPat said...

Wow - that is going out with a real blast!

The Padre said...

True Beauties

Cheers

Thérèse said...

Great takes. Do you know that we manage to bring back a dry stalk which is in our entry way. Plus we drink from time to time a tequila to celebrate the plant.

William Kendall said...

Beautiful captures! One of my friends in the area has one of those plants on her property.

Bill said...

Beautiful, I have never seen these before.

Amy said...

I like unusual flowers like that, definitely different.

Jack said...

Nice! I have seen them years ago when out west, but not often, so they are a real treat to see today on your blog.