2025 sets a record as we welcomed 22 different century plants into flower. We’ve set up our ladders for the pollination ritual, where we hike to the top with pollen we forcefully extracted from potential suitors and do our best to impregnate the moms. Then, we wait and hope for viable seed. This is Agave x protifolia ‘Brontosaurus’, our hybrid between Agave ovatifolia and Agave x protamericana. Below is a video that shows the incredible number of honeybees that feed on the open flowers.
It would be interesting to test the theory promoted by the late Ann Rice, that planting parasitic vampire plants, like Langsdorffia hypogaea (Balanophoraceae family) alongside Century Agaves would allow them the live many ‘centuries’ possibly indefinitely, as long as you plant in deep shade, and strictly avoid planting any variety of ornamental garlic in the same bed.