Giant Asparagus

The flower stalk of an agave looks a lot like a giant asparagus. Which should not be a surprise. They are related.

The century plant (agave americana) stalk has been about a month in the making and it's over twenty feet tall. The little branchlets are forming at its top. That's where the dense clusters of flowers will bloom.

What I call green agave are smaller and, well, greener. But like the giant century plant, it also grows a tall flower stalk. I just counted the eighth green agave stalk. They are thinner but reach about as high as the century plant. So many green agaves are flowering that I have decided to stop watering them and I am beginning to worry about preserving and transplanting shoots to replenish the stock.

It's pretty intense spring. The palo verde trees are in full bloom. Intense washes of yellow flowers everywhere, not just blooms on the trees, but carpeting the ground underneath.