The Giant Asparagus (aka agave americana) is now in bloom in the Plaza de la Concordia. It's a wonderfully slow process. The flower stem began to appear in April. It looked like a giant asparagus spear mid-May. In early June, it had the look of a branching tree. The "tree" began to bud later that month. Here it is approaching mid-July and the "tree" is in bloom while the plant itself is dying off. The flower spike on this particular agave is, I'm guessing, around 20 feet tall (6 meters). They can get up to 26 feet (8 meters).
My "50-Foot" headline is nothing more than an excuse to mention "The Attack of the 50-Ft. Woman," which is among my favorite B movies (the 1958 original, not the 1993 remake with Daryl Hannah). Although, to be honest, I did prefer "The Amazing Colossal Man," (1957) — probably because the guy strode around half naked. Of course, unlike the petite woman who, as the title suggests, only grew to 50 feet tall, "Colossal" grew to 60 feet. At least that's how big the producers and ad-men said he was — and you know how men measure things. Just so you know, the illustrators' and movie-makers' inconsistencies with proportion drove me crazy — even when I was 5.
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| A LITTLE PROBLEM WITH PROPORTIONS. (ON RIGHT) THIS IS 60 FEET? |
My "50-Foot" headline is nothing more than an excuse to mention "The Attack of the 50-Ft. Woman," which is among my favorite B movies (the 1958 original, not the 1993 remake with Daryl Hannah). Although, to be honest, I did prefer "The Amazing Colossal Man," (1957) — probably because the guy strode around half naked. Of course, unlike the petite woman who, as the title suggests, only grew to 50 feet tall, "Colossal" grew to 60 feet. At least that's how big the producers and ad-men said he was — and you know how men measure things. Just so you know, the illustrators' and movie-makers' inconsistencies with proportion drove me crazy — even when I was 5.
Although many people call agave americana "century plant," these plants don't really live 100 years before blooming and dying, they actually live only 10 to 30 years. It's not as sad as it sounds. As the plant dies off, it produces "suckers" or "adventitious shoots" (new plants) to take its place. 'Ours' already has a medium-sized replacement growing nearby and it's sending up "suckers" all around.
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PLAZA DE LA CONCORDIA, THIRD WEEK IN MAY. NOTE THE ROBUSTNESS OF THE PLANT ITSELF. |
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| EARLY JUNE. PLANT ALREADY BEGINNING TO RECEDE. |
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| LATE JUNE, WITH A NEIGHBORING ALOE IN BLOOM (LEFT).. |
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| JULY 9. IN BLOOM. PLANT BASE OBVIOUSLY DYING OFF. |
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| CHECK OUT ALL THE LITTLE "SUCKERS." |
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