ONCE IN A LIFE TIME

This is a close up of a century plant, which I saw yesterday when taking pics of the des res, and which I once saw flowering in about the same spot. They do not live 100 years, more like 25 although perhaps as little as 10. They only bloom once in their lives and it is a spectacular event. The plant then dies having exhausted itself from the monumental effort of producing such gigantic blossoms. Seeds do scatter and suckers appear at the base, so not all is lost.

We watched one of these plants throw up a flowering stem. It grew and it grew and was the talk of the neighbourhood. The owner of the property propped it up with a pole because it was growing on the slope of a cliff, as most things here have to do, and was leaning perilously. Then a series of yellow flowers appeared. It was 8 m tall (26 feet) and the show went on for almost a month. I cannot say I remember that the plant perished and would swear it was the very one I've photographed today. I could be wrong because there are five of these plants growing in the same area.

It is a native of Mexico where the sweet juice from the flower stem is fermented and made into a drink called pulque. It is such a dramatic, architectural plant that it is now grown all over the world.

Late addition: This is a bit too bitty for a blip photo but it is an astonishing plant just the same. It's like a waterfall but it is flowers that fall, not water. Flower Fall