What plant blooms once every 100 years?

Agave Americana Agave Americana Blooms Once Every Hundred Years It's also known as a century plant because it only blooms once every 100 years (roughly) and then dies. But, because Raleigh gets more rain than the plant's usual home in the high elevations of Northern Mexico, the Century Plant is blooming after only thirty years.

pbsnc.org - Unique Century Plant Blooms Early - PBS North Carolina

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Agave Americana Blooms Once Every Hundred Years

You have to admit the plant looks like it’s from another time (Jurassic or Triassic) or possibly from another planet. But no, the agave americana is definitely from Earth. It’s also known as a century plant because it only blooms once every 100 years (roughly) and then dies. But, because Raleigh gets more rain than the plant’s usual home in the high elevations of Northern Mexico, the Century Plant is blooming after only thirty years. The dramatic blooming of the rare plant has turned its Raleigh neighborhood into a kind of tourist attraction. But here’s the sad part. The amazing bloom means this agave is at the end of its life cycle.

Here’s the story

“It was only two to three inches tall when we brought it home from J.C Raulston Arboretum about 25 years ago,” said Alan Tharp. “And it didn’t change a whole lot for a long time.” The staff at the arboretum collected the seeds in Northern Mexico’s high country in 1991. The staff hoped because the agave did well in the colder temperatures of the mountains in Mexico, it might survive the colder winters here. The Arboretum gave out 180 similar agave plants.

Tharp says they planted the agave in October, 1992.

“It grew slowly at first and in its native habitat it takes 100 years to bloom which is how it gets in name,” adds Tharp. “But then it really started to grow.”

The succulent leaves at the base tower about five feet high.

More recently, a stalk started to appear from the center. It’s grown about 20 feet in five weeks. Neighbors now gather every night to check out the plant’s progress. The neighborhood is also getting used to visitors driving by to snap photos and chat. Botanists say near the end of a century plant’s life, that center stalk can reach more than 30 feet high. And because it’s known as a “monocarpic” plant, the century plant flowers only once and then it dies.

Mother nature has future plans for the plant, however

The century plant leaves behind seeds to start a new generation. But it will be awhile before that new plant blooms. The century plant is located on Merwin Road between Liles Road and Lorimer Road in Raleigh. The Tharp family welcomes you to drive by, but please stay on the street or the sidewalk.

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What is America's official flower?

the rose The House of Representatives voted today to make the rose America's national flower. The Senate passed the rose resolution a year ago, and it now goes to President Reagan, who is expected to sign the bill.

nytimes.com - A NATIONAL FLOWER: ROSE IS VICTOR - The New York Times

Last year, when the rose bill was before the Senate, Senator Howell Heflin, Democrat of Alabama, announced that ''a very large proportion of the commercial roses available in this country are imported roses'' from Colombia. Of Poetry and the Rose This comment did not prevent Senator Heflin from writing this poem to explain his position: All flowers are delicate, Each can refresh and amuse, And that is the reason I feel No flower should lose. Still the rose is universal, Its support has a strong voice, So there should be no question That the rose is the choice. So let us raise our voices, And proclaim with all our power, That the rose is more than beautiful, It is America's flower. None of that, however, could stand up to Senator Dirksen's singing the merits of the marigold. Fight for the Marigold On April 17, 1967, in campaigning for a flower he said was as truly symbolic of America as the stars and stripes and the American eagle, he said: ''The marigold is a native of America and can in truth and in fact be called an American flower. ''It is national in character, for it grows and thrives in every one of the 50 states of this nation. It conquers the extremes of temperature. It well withstands the summer sun and the evening chill. ''Its robustness reflects the hardihood and character of the generations who pioneered and built this land into a great nation.''