Re(2): bamboo

theryans@xtra.co.nz writes:
>Although not so striking as this, even agaves can look pretty exciting
>with their tall poles all beset with flowers. Trouble is they die
>equally spectactularly and leave you with a gross mound of brown prickly
>foliage to dispose of. At least one of the people in this suburb who had
>one flower years ago apparently baulked at tackling the removal, and the
>wreck still sits in the middle of the lawn slowly mouldering away.
>Curiously, unlke most of the Agaves I have seen this one did  not give
>rise to any "pups" during its dying throes.

I agree, I love seeing the agaves here start to flower to see how fast
they will develop. Many of their owners seem not to know what to do after
they flower and start dying. I see many with the leaves cut off and the
flowering stalk still left. However, some of this is because they are
planted in the wrong spots, such as the small strip of soil between the
street and the sidewalk.  Most people also just leave the dead mass in
their yards, still with the flowerstalk attached. Many just hire people to
come in and take them out, not wanting to deal with the plant themselves.
Also, most of these plants come back with pups, but often the owners of
these plants take the entire thing out, not wanting to deal with new
plants :). 

I have a book on the plants of the deserts of the southwest (written
humorously), and the author describes the plant with it's emerging
flowerstalk as an artichoke with a stalk of asparagus stuck in the middle.


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