Friday, July 15, 2022

Bloomday for July—it had to happen eventually

All the usual things are blooming in my garden this July. There are a few Magnolia macrophylla blooms hanging on, although by now they are rather "worn"...

All the Callistemon ‘Woodlander’s Hardy Red’ are blooming their hearts out.

I discovered the blooms of Lomandra 'Platinum Beauty'

And I am thrilled by the quantity of Feijoa sellowiana blooms.

A cutting of Cylindropuntia whipplei 'Snow Leopard' that Doug gave me when I visited his garden has thrown out a bloom...

And there are purple and white passionflowers blooming, although I only have a photo of Passiflora 'Snow Queen'.

There are Yucca filamentosa bloom spikes, a LOT of them.

And my traveling cactus buddy ("growers choice") has gone into bloom overdrive...

But really all of those blooms pale in comparison to my excitement over what I discovered on Monday evening when I went out to water. Let me switch to all caps, as is appropriate for this announcement: MY AGAVE VICTORIAE-REGINAE IS GOING TO BLOOM! Yes, my first blooming agave, ever.

I replanted a pot next to the A. victoriae-reginae on Sunday afternoon, and remember looking at the center of the agave and thinking it was a little lighter in color than the rest of the plant, and the leaves seemed a little thinner. I blamed it on our cool, cloudy and wet spring and didn't give it a second thought. That is until Monday when I realized just what was happening—as the center of the plant had pushed out a spike already 3" tall.

Tuesday morning I rearranged the pots in this corner of the patio, hoping to make measuring and photographing the bloom spike easier, and to move the agave front and center, for optimum viewing.



By Tuesday evening—just 24 hours after I first noticed the spike emerging—it was already at 9" tall. Wednesday I took a few close-ups...



And by that evening it had grown to just shy of 14". 

Thursday mid-morning it was obviously taller...

But I didn't measure it until evening, when it came in at 24 inches tall!

Three inches on Monday evening, two feet on Thursday evening. I'm not new to this agave game, I know the bloom spike grows fast, but wow—it is just incredible to see.

A little backstory; I bought it in 2014, at the Friends of Manito Park plant sale, in my hometown of Spokane, Washington. Here's a link to the post I did back then, and a photo from that post below, the spiky plant all packed for traveling...
It obviously hasn't grown much since I brought it home, but then again it was pretty much at it's mature size then. I asked an Instagram friend who works at the Gaiser Conservatory (the plant's home before I bought it) and asked if she had anyway to verify its age. She couldn't say for sure, but guessed it to be around 30. It's bittersweet, to know this agave is going to die, but it's also terribly exciting to (finally) have one of my agaves bloom. You know I'll be regularly updating you on the progress!

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All material © 2009-2022 by Loree Bohl for danger garden. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited and just plain rude. Garden Bloggers Bloomday is hosted by May Dreams Gardens.

29 comments:

  1. I will enjoy watching the progress of your bloom spike. My Z5 Agapanthus have flower buds so I am as happy as you are with your surprise.

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    1. Yay! Agapanthus flowers are a favorite.

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  2. The flowers of pineapple guava are very tasty...but then again, if you eat them you don't have all those beautiful flowers to gush over.

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    1. Luckily this year I have so many flowers I won't have to chose!

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  3. Those yucca blooms are so gorgeous. Well, all of your flowers are gorgeous. Happy Bloom Day.

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    1. Thanks Dorothy, the yuccas are definitely one of the more dramatic blooms I have.

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  4. I know you'll enjoy the Agave's journey and I hope she delivers pups and/or bulbils in the process. I've only had 2 agaves bloom (both A. desmettiana 'Variegata' planted near one another) and, although the bloom stalks developed rapidly, the rest of the "birthing" process was slo-mo.

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    1. Unfortunately this is an agave that doesn't pup or form bulbils.

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  5. How exciting to have an Agave bloom, even if it means it's demise. My Mangave 'Bloodspot' is blooming and I failed to include the photo I took this morning in my Bloomday post. Those spikes just grow so fast ! I know you'll keep us posted.

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    1. Definitely I will keep you all posted! ;)

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  6. Bees love Agave flowers. You may be mobbed soon. 38 year old Agave.--something to be celebrated!

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    1. Good to know, I'll be on the look out.

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  7. Thanks for sharing your plants and blooms. I especially love the passionflower bloom.

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  8. How cool that Queen Victoria is blooming!! Can't wait to see it evolve.

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  9. Holy moly! That bloomspike is literally growing before your eyes! Have you been tempted to just sit next to it and see if you can I see it growing?

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    1. Yes actually I have, sadly I don't have the time.

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  10. AnonymousJuly 16, 2022

    As soon as I read about the forming agave bloom I thought: WOW, you're about to lose your Victoria regina (my all time favorite agave). Then a second WOW when you said it's your first ever! Congratulations, you must be over the moon. The final WOW came when I realized how quickly the bloom spike pushes out! I had no idea... a head turning experience. A memorable bloom's day post!
    Chava

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    1. Luckily I have a couple other victoriae-reginae, although they are smaller.

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  11. Magnolias still hanging on! And all those other wonderful plants--beautiful, all of them. :)

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    1. The magnolia got a late start this year, first time I remember having magnolia blooms in July.

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  12. AnonymousJuly 17, 2022

    Look forward to watching the A. v-reginae's progress. Fascinating to see how fast it's growing. Very cool.

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    1. It seems to have slowed a bit the last couple of days.

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  13. Bittersweet and quite exciting with the AVR blooming. And the flower spike grows remarkably quick too!

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    1. The changes are remarkable, it's such a sturdy stalk.

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  14. AnonymousJuly 19, 2022

    Congratulations! A blooming agave! So cool! Has your feijoa ever produced fruit? There’s a farm in Scholls that I went to last year that had dozens of u-pick trees. Some were tasty, some a bit rancid. - Jim N. Tabor

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    1. The feijoa has produced fruit, just a few and they were on the small side, but tasty.

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  15. It's amazing to see how fast plants can grow. As a graduate student, I grew poplars for my research project. I was thrilled to see the small cuttings grow 6-7 feet in the first year, and into 15 foot monsters at the end of the next.

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