The desert is blooming in our front yard too. The bloomer in this case is an Agave, a relative of the lily. Agaves come in many forms. We think this one is an Agave chiapensis. This is not the one that is used to make tequila, in case your are interested.
After existing for many years (about 10 to 100), the plant throws up a flower spike. The spike grows very fast. It’s amazing to see the difference from day to day. The photos below were taken 10 days apart. The early photo shows the flower spike just starting to come out of the plant. The spike should grow to about 6 feet before the flowers, and later the fruit, appear near the top. We expect to see those flowers tomorrow or the next day. The plant throws so much energy into producing the spike, flowers and fruit, it literally kills itself.
When the the flower and the fruit appear, and when the plant passes away, I’ll add photos of those events to this post.
I wouldn’t be surprised if we get a letter from our ARC telling us that we have an unauthorized flower spike.
Taken 4/9/2010
Taken on 4/19/2010