A ten-year-old plant has finally burst into flower for the first time after a decade of care by professional horticulturists—and the stalk was so tall greenhouse had to remove the Roof.
Staff at the Birmingham Botanical Gardens even needed to open the roof after the towering flower spike shot up to more than 18 feet (5.5 meters) in only a few months.
The agave sisalana, which is native to the deserts of Mexico, is now beginning its spectacular final act, known as the 'death bloom', the last stage of its life cycle.
Gardeners installed a 'bloom watch' chalkboard so visitors could anticipate the one and only flowering event will culminate in the plant's death.
The first buds have just opened in the stalk that now pokes through the 19th century greenhouse.
"It will only flower once in its lifetime which is why it's also called the 'death bloom'," said senior horticulturist Alberto Trinco.
"All of the energy goes into the flowering and to produce loads of seeds— and then the plant will die."
