Big Drama in the front yard
This large cactus, Agave Americana, also known as the century plant,
maguey or American aloe, is starting to bloom. April 12, 2012 and we are there.
I look forward to documenting the entire process. Visitors welcomed.
An amazing photo subject just outside the front door
The sheer mass and detail will provide continuous film opportunities.
This will become another chapter in the garden’s story. Originally from Mexico,
Agave Americana was cultivated as an ornamental plant worldwide.
It now grows wild in Europe, South Africa, India and Australia.
April 25, 2012 and all is growing
In two weeks the flower has grown twice in height and articulations on the
spire probably indicate where flowers or flowering branches will emerge.
In context, 4-28-2012 view of front yard and blooming agave.
The agave continues to reach upwards amongst two neighboring trees.
The pine tree’s roots on the west were tearing up the driveway.
The tree was cut back to bare limbs and left as snag for birds to perch.
The liquid amber on the right requires no watering. It probably lives
off morning condensation and infrequent rains. The flowering geraniums
on the right are planted in the remains of a palm tree and also require
little watering from captured kitchen sink grey water.
And then faces began to appear.
The agave is seen from the east and a detail reveals face-like forms
emerging on every leaf over the past ten days.
There is magic in the close-up details.
The base of the visible spire is approximately eight inches in width.
The upward pointing spear-leaves make it hard to get close for an
accurate recording. These details share nuisances and articulations
that are developing daily.
05-03-12 and the agave continues to grow taller.
The plant has outgrown my everyday wide-angle digital lens.
Folds and bumps continue to enlarge and define themselves.
The spire’s outside leaves are begin to dry and separate from the stalk.
Two details, one plant, one journey.
The spire adds sections and the sections evolve.
5-09-12 and all is well in the front yard.
The lady mail-deliverer has one of the best views of the agave’s growth
since she comes by six days a week. She also can see it from a distance
and upclose. Few people are aware of the plant because it is not in their
nature to look up when they are walking, especially if they are
looking at their smart phones.
And the leaves are starting to change.
The new leaves are drying out and peeling back from the spire.
Underneath the leaves there are bumps that continue to grow.
Will these become the branches? Stay tuned.
5-10-12, now for something different, a first day out of the nest.
A pair of young doves, less than two-years-old, now have two live chicks
in their second nesting attempt using a decorative ceramic pot placed on
an exterior chimney ledge under the patio. The female sat here quietly for
weeks while the male perched in a nearby tree, or on back-alley telephone
wires, always with a view of the nest. In the late fall of the previous year
the immature mother abandoned her nest leaving a dead chick and an
unhatched egg left inside. I took the pot off the ledge and put it
on the ground to photograph in the sun. Minutes later, when I returned
with a camera, both the dead chick and egg were gone.
5-13-12, something is happening but I’m not sure what.
This is the second day after growths were first noticed coming out from
under leaves-pockets at the top of the spire.
This must be the start of something wonderful.
Are these three buds in a pod?
Or three branches growing out of a pocket? or…?
How tall can it go? 5-15-12.
This agave is by far the tallest creature in the yard.
There is a change at the top.
The silhouette is beginning to change at the top as the appendages reach
upwards and out.
How and why does it do what it does?
Two views of strange forms emerging.
Welcome to modern times old being.
And now what will it do?
5-27-12, Upwards and outwards, above and beyond.
Towering above its neighbors the agave dominates the horizon.
A giant hat rack preparing for large ones to visit.
Cosmic formulas are at play, reproduction signatures touching the sky.
Here, mocking bird perches. Here, mocking bird sings.
In the last couple of days mocking birds have started to visit.
Mathematical beauty + natural formulas = fauna success.
The ever-present natural thirds and threes emerge and expand.
The flower started with three bulbs on a stem that began to
grow outwards. Now, those bulbs are becoming their own branches
each with three bulbs at their heads. Symmetrical diversity.
June 9, 2012. a towering spirit matures
I have to go further and further away to get the whole spire,
top to bottom, into the shot. On left-hand image was taken from
across the street, sidewalk and up on the neighbor’s lawn. The
right-hand image is record of the diverse skies passing over the agave.
Stems are now expanding branches.
Threes begat threes begat threes. What will happen next?
It is busy at the very tips.
Patterns continue to unfold as the system evolves.
Up at the very top the reach is still upwards.
Here are two views of the flowering century plant’s crown.
The image on the left was shot with an 800 mm lens.
The right hand image is with a 100-400 mm lens.
A dove takes it all in from its lofty perch.
Mockingbirds come and go while doves stay and rest.
6-19-12, clouds come and go.
There is a fractal nature to the same form repeated over and over at
different scales. The agave is beginning to fill out at the top as its
height gain is slowing.
Each Branch is becoming its own forested sky island.
Three begat three begat three begat three begat… let us all sing along.
A closer study of what will become flowers.
I am starting to wondering what color the flowers will be?
6-26-12, and things are getting plumply.
The top is starting to fill out as the branches reach outwards and fill in.
The crown glows on a clear cool summer day.
The pst couple of years the region has been cooler than normal. This year
started with many overcast days. Today’s highs will be in the low 70’s.
Sometime soon these will become open flowers.
The buds have started to developed a shape featuring two sections.
The clusters are becoming denser and thicker.
Trunk and branches add texture, color and form.
Two aspects of the blooming plant side by side.
The branches are changing while the trunk remains much the same.
7-14-12, moon over agave and mystery sprouts.
The first sign of change was a couple of stalks coming up near the base.
Each stem, 4 to 8 inches tall, had four pods which quickly opened.
A couple of days later pods were falling to the ground.
The pods are falling to the ground.
This pod is resting on an agave leaf at the base of the plant.
This preceded pods opening up in the tree by a couple of days.
The growing up is slowing down.
The amazing affirmation of purpose continues. The agave has reached
another milestone in its life. We were there.
Forward to A Time to Bloom.
Back to Century Plant.
©2012 Anders Tomlinson, all rights reserved.