Liz Lenz had a posse of visitors to her garden last week when a plant native to northeastern Mexico experienced something sporadic.
Her agave striata blossomed its pale-yellow flowers on its towering, solid, spiky stalk last Wednesday, signalling the plant’s maturity which takes 10 to 20 years.
Liz says the plant was diminutive in a Terracotta pot when she first met it around seven years ago when she established new roots in Richmond.
“Look at the size of it now, it’s unbelievable, I didn’t realise it was going to grow quite so big,” she says.
“I’ve grown really attached to it, it’s quite nice, and in summer I’ve put little fairy lights around it.”
Liz says the plant was seldom watered, a testament to its ability to survive in the arid deserts and dry shrubland biome.
She says, four weeks ago the stalk started shooting up, growing to over a metre in one week, and she “felt like a mother with a newborn” when the flowers appeared.
“It was exciting, and the neighbours all came out and had a look because they’ve all been as keen as me waiting for it to flower,” she says.
“They just think it’s amazing, a thing of beauty, and the people that came off the street, they asked me if they could take a photo of it.
“It was my neighbours and a passerby that said to me, you need to contact the local paper.”
Liz says Olive Estate Lifestyle Village residents also visited for a glimpse.
While most agave species perish after they flower due to the amount of energy they use to produce seeds and blooms, the agave striata is one of the few that flower more than once, producing new rosettes at its base. Meaning it won’t be adios to Liz’s plant just yet.
