October 2006
The Century Plant

The thrill of discovery and the wonders of nature are sometimes as close as our own backyards.

Two years ago we dug up an interesting looking desert type plant from the alley behind our house and transplanted it to a corner of the front yard garden. It thrived in our hot Texas summers quadrupling in size. Now 8 feet in height it has deep green tough sword shaped leaves, which end in extremely sharp barbs. Even though not a beautiful plant it fits the landscape and gave us a start towards xeriscaping, which is a type of landscape design that requires little or no irrigation or maintenance.

This September it shot up a long stalk and proceeded to produce large buds. These buds opened into beautiful creamy 1-2 inch long white bell shaped flowers in dozens of large clusters. A little research revealed that this is a Yucca belonging to the Century Plant Family, which are said to bloom only once every hundred years. That however is actually a misnomer since in reality they bloom once every 20-30 years. Scientific species name for our beauty is Treculeana Carr, and the common name Spanish Dagger. Now we stare in wonder as our Century Plant has transformed into a majestic beauty, each day growing more regal in appearance as it reigns over the landscape reaching for the sky.

Once the plant has fully bloomed it dies back to the ground having put so much energy into the flowering process. It will usually leave "pups" so we can enjoy the process all over again.

The Yucca is one of the many types of Agaves (or scientific name agavaceae.) Native Americans in the Southwest used the fibers of the leaves of these desert plants to make rope, sandals and baskets. The leaves themselves were used to make nets. They ate the flowers and fruit and ground the black seeds into flour. The roots were used to make soap.

Bees have gathered in this corner of our yard, hour after hour lazily circling our plant. They are drawn by the sweet nectar and perhaps, as we are, at the wonder of a century plant in rare bloom.