Agave americana - Century Plant

Fantastic specimen Andy. You have to go to the far south west of the UK to risk growing one of these outside. In the nursery I work in at Kew there is a large collection of Agave, but obviously no plants of that size!

wow Delonix thats awesome...i have two growing outside...i wonder if they will ever flower?

Rbtkew:

Thanks! Yes, they do grow very large here...and they
grow everywhere. Many Agave species truly grow
like weeds here.

Sandra:

I hope your Agave will bloom one day! It may take a little
longer for it to bloom there in England though. Let's hope it
doesn't take 60 years! : > )

Wow very interesting.

Wow that is enormous, was about to buy one of these, not too sure now if they get that big lol

DD you can keep it in a pot which will keep it at a managable size....

If only ours would reach this size !!i think we would have to live to about 200 years old to see one flower....LOL

Amazing, how big it has grown.

Mushybanna:

That's funny! : > )

Tholdgunner:

They can grow a little larger...however, I think this plant
will be blooming soon.

Sandra now that is a good idea, did not want to move house again.......

i have been moving the last of mine inside today..we had such a lovely sunny day here....i do have a few planted out but they limp through the winter...

The largest ones I have seen growing outside in the UK were at Tresco.Huge!

Rbtkew:

I've seen photos of the ones at Tresco...they are
big...however, multiply those by 2 or 3 and that's
how large they grow here. The flowers spikes also
grow to 30 - 40 feet or 9 -13 meters tall : > )

ive seen a few in St. Davids Pembrokeshire growing outside and flowering occasionaly. they have been in the ground for about ten years and are about
ten feet wide.....

mine are still tiny but they do seem to be hanging on in there...;-))

the ones on the Scilly isles were much bigger....but still no where near that...

Sandra:

It sounds like the ones growing in England bloom
in about the same amount of time as they do here.

I'll have to get some photos of the thousands of the naturalized
stands growing on the sides of the mesas and canyons. I pass
by several large stands with huge flower spikes every day...
however, it is so difficult to get a good photo...my camera
doesn't have a good zoom lens.