A Century?

Not quite a century. According to the Ladybird Johnson Wildflower Center in Austin http://www.wildflower.org the Century Plant blooms in 8 to 20 years. The version common in Texas is the Thorncrest Century Plant, Agave lophantha Schiede. The bloom is evidenced by the tall stalk that shoots up only in preparation for the bloom. The one pictured here at my Wimberley land bloomed this summer, and soon afterward started curving toward the ground. The Century plants I knew from my time in the desert DIE after they bloom, their effort to produce offspring having used every ounce of life in the mother plant. So, I guess this one is soon to be dust again, heading back to enrich the soil from which it came. Not a big problem for the species, since that bloom produces enough seeds to start many more plants which will replace it for (not quite) a century. A tough gig for the mother plant, but maybe no tougher experience than some parents have getting their young sprouts to adulthood...