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Once-in-a-lifetime event! (agave double flowering)

greatnorthernexoticgreatnorthernexotic Posts: 119
in Plants
I thought some here would appreciate seeing this. Last year I visited East Ruston Old Vicarage to see something that has never happened before in the UK (and I couldn't find any other documented examples elsewhere in the world, in cultivation or habitat) - an agave montana with a double death bloom!


Agave montana is fairly new to cultivation, so has bloomed just a handful of times in the UK (bearing in mind they can take decades to reach this stage). And of course being monocarpic, the plant will die afterwards.

Here's a short video of the double death bloom:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_K66QWaeSg

What unusual / once-in-a-lifetime botanical events have you witnessed?
Growing tropical and desert plants outdoors in West Yorkshire
INSTAGRAM/ YOUTUBE

Posts

  • PlantmindedPlantminded Posts: 3,580
    edited 26 February
    I've seen a single bloom variety flowering when I lived in the Caribbean many years ago @greatnorthernexotic. Known locally as Century Palm because they supposedly only flower once in 100 years (I'm not sure if that's true!) The bases of the plants were used by people living nearby to hang clothes on to dry, much nicer than a rotary washing line!
    Wirral. Sandy, free draining soil.


  • punkdocpunkdoc Posts: 15,039
    Alan Grey who owns East Ruston, said that he was unaware of it occurring any where else in the world. 
    How can you lie there and think of England
    When you don't even know who's in the team

    S.Yorkshire/Derbyshire border
  • PlantmindedPlantminded Posts: 3,580
    It may be a different variety of Agave I have seen then on the east coast of Barbados where there are quite a few!

    Wirral. Sandy, free draining soil.


  • greatnorthernexoticgreatnorthernexotic Posts: 119
    Difficult to tell for sure @Plantminded but flower spikes look more a. americana which is the one you see most often here in the UK, both in private gardens and municipal parks in the warmer parts of the UK. 

    A. montana is hardier, down to -15c and as the name suggests comes from a higher altitude (up to 3400m). One negative is that they don't produce pups so are much harder to propagate.
    Growing tropical and desert plants outdoors in West Yorkshire
    INSTAGRAM/ YOUTUBE
  • PlantmindedPlantminded Posts: 3,580
    That explains it @greatnorthernexotic, thank you.  Spectacular plants!
    Wirral. Sandy, free draining soil.


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