Plant talk

 

My dasylirion longissimum is sporting a flower spike for the first time ever. I think the plant is six or seven years old.

This is an early morning shot. The flower is growing about three inches a day, right before my eyes.

I can't wait for the bloom.

The beautiful plant, which resembles an exploding pincushion or roman candle, is a lovely member of my front garden.

It is also known as the Mexican grass tree and is native to Chihuahua. You see a lot of these specimens in the Fallbrook landscape.

They don't like a lot of water.

The spiky fronds are four to five feet long and the plant can grow to 12 feet tall. 

Mine is about ten feet tall at the apex right now, maybe equally wide.

I have two of these plants and a smaller wider leafed cousin, the wheeleri.

Unfortunately, this one stays mostly hidden behind a large pride of madeira or echium fastuosum shrub.

I may remove this echium to make some space one day, as I have several others in the yard and they tend to do themselves in after so many years anyway.

I see a tiny white spot on the top of the inchoate flower and know that it will soon unfurl itself into its fall beauty and magnificence.

I will share a picture when it goes off.

Behind my echium you can see my favorite jubea chilensis, or chilean wine palm.

It is one of the slowest growing palms in the world and has the widest trunk. It gets wide before it gets tall. Mine is about ten feet tall now. It is competing with the orange, the avocado and the silk floss tree for certain sunlight but is still really happy and healthy.

When you plant you think you have so much space but it really disappears! The recent rains have really helped the landscape get very happy and I can see the lighter new growth in the center of the palms. I hope that I live long enough to see my jubea at its most beautiful but it might take a decade or two.