Agave bloom spike – now that’s going out with a bang
April 18, 2012
The sight of this enormous, almost embarrassingly phallic agave bloom spike, as I drove through a north Austin neighborhood this morning, caused me to yank my car to the side of the road and take a photo. What a monster! Actually, this garden contained two monsters—two 9-foot-tall agaves sporting 18-feet-and-growing bloom spikes, each with a diameter of about 8 inches.
I’ll have to drive back by in a few weeks to see it in full bloom. Of course, once it blooms, the plant collapses and dies. But what a glorious way to go.
All material © 2006-2012 by Pam Penick for Digging. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.
That is eye catching! Isn’t it true if you cut the stalk out before it blooms the plant will live. And isn’t there a culture that uses something from this bloom????????
Hi, Darla. It’s a misconception that you can cut out the bloom spike to keep an agave from dying, according to succulent maven Debra Lee Baldwin; click for her excellent post about agave blooms at Gardening Gone Wild. She says that agave nectar can be harvested from the bloom. —Pam
It’s so bitter sweet when an agave blooms! I can’t wait to see pictures of it in its full glory!!
Yes, I know when mine finally bloom it will be bittersweet indeed. By the way, I wanted to tell you that I enjoyed your Foliage Follow-Up post, which I just saw on your blog. I wasn’t able to leave a comment (if you enable the Name/URL option, non-account users like me can comment too), but I just wanted to say I love all your dramatic plants, especially the phormium! —Pam
I had a neighbor who was horrified when our Giant Hesperaloe plants annually sent up a 15′-20′ stalk. (what are those going to do?) He didn’t see my horror every day at his / others’ gravel front yard. That is one cool plant to go out with such a blaze of glory!
There’s someone in my ‘hood with an all-gravel front yard. It’s depressing. I’d like to see those giant hesperaloe blooms though. —Pam
They are just unbelievable! I wish I could see one in person! It’s truly an astonishing looking event.
I hope you see one someday, Indie. I see them all the time here in Austin, and they still amaze me. —Pam
Hey what’s wrong with a gravel front yard???
One of my brothers Agaves is blooming, it is such a momentous occasion!
I’m talking ONLY gravel, Loree. Glaring white. No plants. Unless you count the few scraggly weeds popping up amid the gravel. Not at all like your pretty, gravel-mulched garden. —Pam
Hi Pam!
I wanted to let you know that, sadly, you were right when you told me last year that my desmettiana variegata was pretty mature and didn’t have much time left. Today I noticed the bloom spike. : (
I also wanted to ask if you know how I should go about harvesting the pups once the bloom spike falls. Do I just cut them off like the other pups, or should I cut the branches apart and bury small chunks of the branches with the pups sticking out of the ground? I feel compelled to try to save every single one, so I’m going to be working pretty hard to find homes for all of them and get them harvested in a hurry when the time comes.
Btw, I hear you and I have a friend in common — Chris Ryan (I used to work with his wife, and she’s a good friend of mine).
Devon, I’ve yet to obtain any personal experience with harvesting pups from an agave bloom spike. But from what I’ve read online, you really just need to wait for the agave to do the work for you. Eventually the bloom spike will age (ripen?) and topple over. At that point, the bulbils (baby agaves) should fall off or easily snap off; in nature, they would be able to root where they fell. Don’t be in a hurry to cut them off unless it blooms in winter and a freeze is threatening—and in that case, I’m not sure what you could do to save them, as Agave desmettiana is not particularly freeze tolerant. Check out this post about agave bloom spikes from Gardening Gone Wild. There’s even a picture of a desmettiana in bloom.
What a small world that you know Chris! He and I are friends from college, many years ago—he’s a great guy. —Pam