Giant agave flowering spike starting

2015 9249 patio with Agave Grey Gator in spike from garage4

From high above our Southwest patio garden, you can get a good perspective of our latest agave to flower.  This cross of Agave salmiana and Agave asperrima (scabra) is our largest agave to ever flower (7′ tall x 12′ wide).  We’re expecting the spike to reach at least 25′ before it begins to open in late June or early July.

Agave Grey Gater spike starting

Here is a ground level photo from 2 weeks ago, when the flower bud first emerged.

Agave Grey Gator in spikeHere, the flower spike is 10 days old and nearing 12′ tall.  The flowering of large agaves evokes both excitement and sadness….excitement that it will flower and hopefully set seed, but sadness that the parent plant will die soon after flowering.  Although it would take 100 years to reach flowering size in the wild, our plant is only 16 years old, growing faster because of our higher rainfall.  While they last, we are pleased to offer seed-grown plants from its sister that flowered a couple of years earlier.

 

 

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