DES MOINES, Iowa — The Greater Des Moines Botanical Garden has a once-in-a-decade opportunity that has been drawing people into the garden for the past month.
The Blue Agave Glow is a plant native to the Southwest and Mexico, but one is located here in Des Moines. It’s not a regular plant, though. The excitement began a little over a month ago, when a spike emerging from the plant appeared.
The plant sits dormant for 10-15 years; in this case, the plant has been at the botanical garden for 11 years. Then, it produces a long spike coming out of the middle of the plant. The spike started a little over a month ago and has now grown to 11 feet.
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What makes this plant unique is that it is monocarpic, meaning that it blooms once, then dies. That’s right, the plant works up the energy for 10-15 years to produce one bloom, shows it off, then dies…