Image – Flickr/Mauricio Mercadante
Agave is a plant that blooms only once in its life. After that, he dies. It is so because it is a monocarpic plant, like Aeonium, Puya, bromeliads and many others. But in the bad, what could be considered good is that it is normal for them to take a long time to produce their flowers.
Thus, one can have an agave for ten years or more, everything will depend on the species and its rate of growth, beautifying the garden until finally it is time to bloom. But, how is the agave flower?
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Characteristics of the agave flower
Image – Wikimedia/Eug
When we speak of a flower in popular or common parlance, we are referring to what is actually a inflorescence. This consists of a stem or a floral stem much higher than the plant itself.; in fact, it can measure around 10-12 meters. In addition, it is relatively thick, reaching about five or six centimeters at its base (the higher it is, the thinner it is).
But what the flowers are, they begin to sprout about the middle of this stem, and they do so in the form of an open panicle. In fact, in some cases, they could almost remind us of the distribution of the branches of certain conifers, such as the Araucaria araucana; in others, instead, they look more like foxtails. Each flower measures a maximum of ten centimeters, and is yellowish in color. An interesting fact about them is that the animal that pollinates them in their place of origin is the bat; On the other hand, in other regions, it is pollinating insects such as bees that take care of it.
Now no matter where you grow, the fruit is the same in all species of agave. Namely: these are trigonal capsules which measure about 5 to 8 centimeters and contain small seeds.
What happens after flowering?
after flowering, the agaves die, but not before producing many young. And it is that, as we said before, they produce fruits with seeds, these have a very short period of viability (that is, they can only germinate for a short period). If during this time the right conditions do not exist for them to do so, that is to say if it does not rain a little and the temperatures are mild, they will not germinate.
For this reason, agaves have evolved to produce suckers, since It’s a much safer and more efficient way to let the offspring. And it is that a child who has already grown a little, since he already has his own roots, will have more possibilities to continue than a seed.
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The Agave, the ideal plant for the garden
When growing these plants, the separation of these shoots is also favored to multiply the agave, because even if the seeds are in the best condition, the expected results are not always obtained. But of course, sometimes it is worth planting them, especially if they were obtained by crossing two different species of agaves to obtain hybrids.
Can the agave flower be cut to prevent it from dying?
By proxy you can, but that would be against the nature of the plant. And anyway, it would bloom again. I don’t recommend cutting anything unless it’s completely dry because it’s no longer useful to you.
If you don’t like having a plant that dies once after flowering, it’s best that you choose to plant one that produces flowers every year without shortening its lifespan.
How long does the agave take to flower?
Image – Flickr/Lino M
Agaves they will flower between 10 and 35 years, from spring to summer. However, this flowering can be a little delayed if the plant is kept too long in a pot, or if the weather is cool.
In any case, to keep them healthy, it is best to plant them in the ground as soon as possible, because that way they can grow at a normal pace.
What do you think of the agave flower?