A Century...on Monday's Country Back Roads

This story began 3 months ago. That is how long I have been photographing the Century Plant ( Agave Americana). It is growing at the entrance gate of a farm on the Blackland Prairie, near where I live.

Have you ever seen a century plant bloom? From what I have read, it flowers once near the end of its life. The plant dies after flowering...but, the suckers from the base continue to grow.

When I first noticed the bloom stalk growing, it was already about 10 feet tall. It reminds me of asparagus growing.   

Notice there were no leaves on the trees when I first started photographing in late February.

If you cut the flower stem now, a sweet liquid called aguamiel will gather in the heart of the plant. The liquid can be fermented for a drink called pulque. If you click HERE, you can read of the many uses of the agave.

Each week, as I drove by on my trip to town, I stopped to photograph the changes. As you can see, the tree growing beside it, has now put on foliage. The bloom stalk has grown to about 25 feet tall.

It now has the beginnings of flower buds.

In the shadows of early morning, you can see how they are forming.

Several more weeks passed by, as I continued to watch the blooms.

Wasn't it worth the wait to see these beautiful blooms....

Meggie Mac