The agave can hardly be compared with an ordinary flower in the garden: after all, the rosette of leaves in many types of agave grows visually relatively discreetly over years or decades before the plant finally blooms majestically and then dies after a short time.
What are the flowers of an agave like?
The agave only blooms once in its life, usually after several decades, and then often dies. The majestic flower consists of a long stem and branched flowers. Offshoots, so-called Kindel, can be used for propagation.
Beauty and transience are linked in the agave
While many flowers in the garden bloom reliably every year or even several times a year, the agave is more aesthetically pleasing due to the color and shape of the characteristic rosette of leaves. After all, with most types of agave, you need a lot of patience before you can see these plants bloom. Since some agaves can take several decades to bloom, terms such as “hundred-year-old agave” or “century plant” have become commonplace. Particularly tragic: not for all, but also for many types of agave, the flowering is the highlight and at the same time the end of a long life. The plant often dies immediately after flowering, but there are also species for which this is not the case.
The characteristic features of an agave flower
The inflorescences of the larger agaves, which are often up to six meters and occasionally up to twelve meters high, consist of a very long stem and a branched flower at the upper end. The actual flowers are characterized by the following characteristics:
- Zymous partial inflorescences (branched)
- short-stemmed flowers
- tubular or bell-shaped perigone
- moveable anthers on the stamens
Misconceptions about how long it takes for the agave to bloom
While not all agaves cultivated in pots die after flowering, not all agaves take decades to flower. You can also find agaves in specialist shops that will surprise you with attractive flowers after just a few years of care.
Tip
It is often a tragic moment for gardeners when the flowering of certain agaves is accompanied by the announcement of their death. However, you can provide offshoots in good time by using the kindles that develop on the agave for propagation.
