Our huge Agave bloomed. In After 11 happy years in our yard, our Agave — which I thought was a Mr. Ripple but is some kind of Mexican Agave hybrid with rippled edges — started its shoot last spring.
Agave flowering stalks are habitat heavens, so we watched the wildlife parade come through. It ended up 25 feet high, now we’re waiting for the stalk to dry out before removing it. It’s 10 months later and it’s still with us.
What we learned during the wonderful process:
- The same chemical that starts the blooming process also tells the plant to die, This one-time reproduction is called monocarpy. (Don’t cut the stalk to try to save the agave -it’s too late!)
- Most live 15 years to 30 years, ours lasted 11 years after planting but it was likely several years old by then.
- Offspring – It’s all about offspring. We had already given away a dozen offsets or what we called pups that emerged several feet from the mother agave during its lifetime – and there’s at least one pup below. But there are also seeds that are covering the ground that would seed.
Photo gallery below.
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