Century Plant Wows The Neighborhood!

The neighborhood paper covered the amazing century plant blooming three doors from my house:

Craig Reynolds of California Agave Ventures, a Yolo County agave grower, identified the plant as an agave americana, commonly called a century plant.

“They grow slowly for many years, then bloom only once in their lives, emitting a long central stem, the quiote,” Reynolds said. If pollinated, the flowers eventually form seeds – “then the stalk and entire plant die.”

The seeds fall to the ground; some may produce new plants. Not all agaves are monocarpic, a type of plant that flowers just once, then dies. The chemical change the agave americana goes through to produce the giant stalk, fruit and seeds takes all of the plant’s energy. The mother literally gives her life for her future babies. She can also produce pups and future plants through underground horizontal stems called rhizomes, which the agave already has accomplished.

Most agave americanas live 10 to 30 years despite their “century plant” name, although an extremely well cared for agave americana in a university greenhouse in Michigan was 80 years old when it bloomed in 2014. The stalk grew so high that it burst through the greenhouse ceiling. 

Neighbors estimate the Second Avenue agave is about 30 years old.