Clarence Rhem has eagerly awaited the blooming of his agave plants. Bloom
When his two mature plants bloomed, heavy winds and rain knocked one of them over.
The buds of the agave cacti — which are actually succulents — may not seem to be spectacular. But the agave — often called the century plant — doesn’t blossom until it’s from 10 to 30 years old. Then it dies, leaving many “pups” to carry on the cycle.
Rhem moved into his house at 712 Girl Scout Road four months ago and started pulling up some of the agave plants in the yard. It was not an easy task. The plant’s base looks like a giant pineapple.
The base of the Mexican highlands plant can be up to 7 feet high and 12 feet wide with sharp-toothed leaves, according to information from the website of the University of Arizona Pima County Cooperative Extension.
An asparagus-looking sprout emerges from the center that grows rather quickly from 15 feet to as high as 30 feet, the website explains. At the top, shoots grow out horizontally up to 6 feet long and produce flowers.
The top of the stalks on Rhem’s plants tower above the house at possibly 30 feet.
“Within a week, it was 8 feet tall. Sure enough, each day it looks like it’s grown a foot,” Rhem said about the stalks. “… A stalk grew out of two of them and looked like an anaconda. That tripped me out. It’s like Jack and the beanstalk.”
Rhem said he started getting rid of some of the plants because they were too close to the house. But there are many pups in the yard, so Rhem said he would move some near the road and give others away.
“I know several people who want some,” he said, “and they can have them.”
His neighbor, Johnnie Mosley, who served as mayor of Kinston from 1997-2005, remembers when the first plant bloomed at least 10 years ago before the owner of the house passed away.
“She had planted quite a few around her home,” he said. “… As soon as it flowered, a storm came and blew it over.”
It would have died, anyway. But Mosley was interested in seeing the blooms a little longer — considering how long it takes the plant to bloom.
“It really looks good when it flowers,” he said.
Peg Godwin, horticulturist at the Lenoir County Cooperative Extension, recalls seeing an agave plant blooming at another Kinston residence about 10 years ago — possibly the same year Mosley saw his neighbor’s plant bloom.
Godwin said the century plants need good drainage, prefers heat and a dry climate and blooms infrequently.
“It’s not every hundred years,” she said, “but it is infrequently.”
Mosley said local Latinos would come by his neighbor’s house to get some of the leaves, but he didn’t know what they do with them. The leaves are known to contain a fiber that can be used for making rope and cloth.
Margaret Fisher can be reached at 252-559-1082 or Margaret.Fisher@Kinston.com. Follow her on Twitter @MargaretFishr.