Agave Keeps Growing

An agave at the Garfield Park Conservatory in Chicago has literally gone through the roof. Horticulture staff at the conservatory removed the glass pane above the plant to let the plant seek its natural height.

Agave plants grow very slowly and most flower only once during their life cycle. During flowering, a tall stem or “mast” grows from the center of the leaf rosette. 

Just such an agave flower stalk appeared in early August at the Garfield Park Conservatory in Chicago. Moths and bats, it’s reported, pollinate the flowering stalk! The stalk looks like a giant asparagus, to which agaves are related. The flowering of the plant takes over a year, and the stalk flowering for approximately four to six months. The stalk, in its entirety, will contain 50,000 to 100,000 individual flowers and the flower stalk will weigh approximately 40 pounds.

After development of fruit, the plant dies, but pups (root sprouts which become new plants) are often produced from the base of the stem.