Turner’s ‘beanstalk’ gets ready to bloom, then die

Brenda Turner of West Marion wasn’t quite sure what was happening to her cactus in the backyard by the pool when it looked as if it was dieing.

So she clipped the browning edges of the spikey leaves and fed fertilizers to the aging Century Plant.
And then it began to grow. It grew and it grew, a tall asparagus-spiney sprout that is now nearly as high as a nearby telephone pole. It would have grown without the fertilizers, those familiar with that type of plant, say, though. It’s what it does at maturity.

The Century Plant has several names: Agavi americana, Century Catcus, Agave parry, or Parry’s Agave, and after 20 or so years, after producing multiple “babies,“ it blooms. And then it dies.

For more like a quarter of a century than a century, the succulent plant, a member of the Amaryllis Family, grows. And then one day, it produces the spike that sprouts up by feet every day until it sports clusters of buds, then spinley lily-like yellow-orange trumpet flowers.

Turner said her grandson says the plant looks like the one in the Jack in the Beanstalk tale, growing and growing.
When the plant blooms, it does so in late spring or early summer. Well before death, it produces “mini plants,“ “pups,“ “babies,“ or “offsets.“ The blooming spike grows so tall, so quickly, that it saps all the resources of the plant.

It’s death is gradual and leaves the tall wooden seed stalk. The plant, which looks a little like a huge aloe plant, lives an average of 25 years.
Turner, said she will likely have to move the “baby” of this self-perpetuating Century Plant, that she planted about five years ago, now that she knows what it will do as it ages. It’s among other trees that will compete with the spike, whenever the plant matures.

The century plant that is nearly ready to bloom has been in her yard for about 20 years, Turner said.
For indigenous desert peoples, the plant was used for medicines, fiber, needles and food, one online resource said. There are numerous other resources in the library and online that tell about the plant.

“I’ve probably given away five or so ... one to my mom and others ... over the years,“ Turner said.
Though this plant will likely bloom in the coming weeks, then die away (a condition called monocarpic), it will live on through the plants it has offsprings.