Some people have all the patience and all the luck, and this time the winner is the Royal Botanical Gardens in Hamilton, Ontario. After three decades, an enormous false agave that has resided in the garden's Mediterranean Greenhouse since 1984, has finally bloomed. The central American native, Furcraea selloa var. marginata, has a flower stalk towering 23 feet (7 meters).
Alas, the plant only blooms once in its life -- sometimes taking as long as a century-- then it dies. This particular agave was acquired from the Nassau Botanical Garden and entered the RBG's collection on January 27, 1976.
(photo: Royal Botanical Gardens)
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