Many ornamental and garden plants are cultivated primarily because of their rich and beautiful flowers, which delight every year. Not so with the agave, because this desert plant only shows its impressive flowers every decade and then dies.
What does the Agave tequilana flower look like?
The flowering of Agave tequilana, also known as Blue Agave, is a rare event that only occurs once in the plant's life. The flowers are yellow, tubular and arranged in a branched raceme that grows on a stem up to five meters high.
What does the Agave tequilana flower look like?
The flower of the Agave tequilana, also known as blue agave because of the characteristic coloring of its leaves, is an impressive natural spectacle. In its natural habitat, the plant can grow significantly larger than a man's height and just as wide. During flowering, a stem or “mast” (called “quiote” in Mexico) grows from the center of the rosette of leaves up to five meters high and bears a large number of short, tubular flowers. The yellow flowers are tubular and arranged in a branched raceme called a terminal panicle.
How often does Agave tequilana bloom?
Like many other types of agave, the blue agave only blooms once in its life. After flowering, the mother plant dies, but before it produces numerous daughter plants - also called offshoots or children. That's why many hobby gardeners look at the agave flower with both a laughing and a crying eye: After all, it is extremely tragic when the plant that has been nurtured and cared for for decades finally dies.
When does the blue agave bloom?
In the Mexican monocultures where the species is grown, the plants often bloom after just five to 12 years. In pots, flowering can usually only be expected after 20 to 30 years - if at all! Flowering potted agaves are very rare here because they often lack time to develop due to the long winter breaks. Therefore, flowers are more likely in specimens grown in greenhouses or winter gardens.
Do fruits develop after flowering?
In their Mexican homeland, the pollinated flowers develop into fruits that are visually reminiscent of pineapples. In our case, however, this is unlikely because the flowers are pollinated by bat species native to Mexico. All you can do is try to pollinate the agave flowers by hand. However, you need several specimens blooming at the same time.
Tip
Agave tequilana used to make tequila
Blue agave is also known as “tequila agave” because the alcoholic drink of the same name is made from its juice. By the way, this is named after the Mexican town of Tequila, in and around which most of the production takes place.
