Agave, Final Days

Agaves sprout and bloom once in their lives and then die. Here’s my agave in its final stages.

The blossoms are dry and drooping. The original plant is brown and dead.

After the agave died completely, my neighbor, Judy, came over and helped me take it down.

Agaves don’t sprout and bloom often in our northern climate. When they do, it’s a treat. I enjoyed this one–and so did the neighbors and their grandchildren. We got to watch it grow so fast–at one point, four inches a day–and tower over all the other plants.

In southern climates where agaves grow easily, some people consider them weeds. I can understand that considering how many seeds they produce. Agaves are hard to take out, too. It’s easy to cut the stalk with a reciprocating saw but difficult to cut out the plant itself. It’s prickly and has numerous thin roots in a dense bunch. Judy and I decided to use pruners and cut the bunch over and over until finally we could pull the dead plant out. I carried it off in a plastic garbage bag to avoid getting pricked.

Trash collectors picked it up last week.