Sunday, July 25, 2010

The End


The End, originally uploaded by angryparsnip.

On my post of 25 April 2010 I started an off and on post of The Good
The Bad The Really Really Sad....

This is now the Sad post.
This is the end of one of my most loved Century Plant. Two where
planted together at the outside fence in my back yard.
I loved them as plants and as living sculpture

Century Plants bloom only once in their life. Why it is called this
is because of "the once in a century bloom"
The stalk that blooms is so large and grows so fast it saps the plant
of all its resources and the plant dies after blooming.
The blooming stalk on this plant was thirty-five feet tall.

When I was a little girl living in Tucson, I really thought the plant
had to be a century old to bloom.
I now found out the plant lives about twenty-five years bloom and then
dies. I roughly figured this plant was at lest twenty-eight years old.
I also had a Century Plant in the front yard that bloomed at the same
time and had stalk was forty feet tall.

sad. . . parsnip
music. . . Breathe, Alexi Murdoch

7 comments:

  1. very sad, stoic photo there. Try making it B/W, it might look good that way.

    I'm going to steal that first photo of the plant with it's stalk all grown to show my students if you don't mind.

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  2. This is sad, its inevitability doesn't make it any less so. Will you plant some more?

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  3. Yes you should plant another - for your grandchildren;)

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  4. Very unfortunate for the century plant. I love the progression of the photos. Hopefully our lives offer at least one beautiful stalk to show the world before we die.

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  5. Ah, poor sad plant - does it not distribute seed so that they can regenerate?

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  6. Carole talks about the progression of photos. Am I missing something? I see only one photo and when I go to flickr, there is only one other one of the Century plant.

    An interesting post. I never knew about the Century plant.

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  7. David...
    I will try that. I was very invested in that plant. It was the second reason I bought this home, the view was the first.

    Eryl...
    The plant produces several baby plants before it blooms and I have several. I might just transplant. My next post will have more pictures.

    Pat...
    The second plant is showing signs (baby plant) so for now I think I will have lopsided garden for another year and just wait and see.

    Carole...
    It is rather spectacular way to go. More photos to follow.

    Weaver...
    It has seed that the birds eat but I am thinking it reproduces by the baby plants it leaves.

    Kass...
    These Century plants were really big and now we think maybe 30 + years. They were huge.
    I sent you an e-mail... hope that helps on the blog problems ?

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