Century Plant

There’s a horticultural phenomenon taking place in Ghent, that you’re going to want to see for yourselves, so strap on your walking shoes, jump on your bike, or start your engines and head over to 623 Baldwin Avenue to catch the extraordinary sight of a century plant in bloom.

The plant is located in the front garden bed of a private residence, but luckily for us all, it is easily viewed from the street and sidewalk in front of the house.

Century plant is a North American native (Agave americana) that blooms – not every hundred years as its name suggests, but unpredictably once in 10-25 years – so observing it in person is a first for me. What makes it amazing is the flower stalk, which emerges from the succulent rosette below to a mind-boggling height of 15-30 feet tall or more! Up until a few days ago it looked like nothing so much as a gigantic asparagus spear, but it has now grown taller still and horizontal branches have sprouted near its top. Greenish-yellow flowers (each 3-4” long) are beginning to bloom in panicles on these branches.

We can expect the flowers of the century plant bloom to stay alive for about a month before they start to wither and die. Once the bloom fades and the reproductive cycle is finished, the century plant itself dies, but vegetative offsets at its base should be left behind to propagate a new generation. And then in another 10-25 years, it will all happen again.