Towering over visitors where it grows inside the Denver Botanic Gardens, a 25-year-old agave plant has officially entered its “death bloom,” garden officials said.
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The agave utahensis, also known as the Utah agave, is halfway through its first — and last — bloom in the Roads Water-Smart Garden, according to a video posted by Denver Botanic Gardens.
The plant is on its last tour, “but don’t worry, it’s going out in style!” garden officials wrote on social media. A video posted by the garden to announce the plant’s first (and only) bloom featured two men headbanging and singing “death bloom” on repeat.
Agave lifespans vary from one to 100 years, Assistant Manager of Learning Engagement Vanessa Callahan said in the video posted by Denver Botanic Gardens. This one spent a quarter-century growing in Colorado as it amassed the energy to flower and spread seeds, she said.
The entire stalk, which appears to be the height of several grown men, is covered in growths that will eventually bloom, Callahan said. Roughly half the flowers have opened up so far, and the stalk will continue blooming and releasing seeds into the summer, she said.
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“Here’s where it gets dramatic,” she said in the video. “Once we’ve got all of those seeds fully mature, ready to live a life on their own, this plant here is going to die, hence the existential name ‘death bloom’.”
“Don’t be sad,” continued Callahan, who also goes by “the nerdy naturalist” on social media. “This is the life cycle of an agave plant; it’s how they live.”
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