Tuesday, May 24, 2016
Our Blossoming Flowers
6:44pm

Our cactus bloomed early May 16th, I didn't record last year's flowering, but on May 17, 2014, it bloomed and I snapped. Julia pointed out that with 2016 being a leap year, this is exactly two years from the 2014 blossom. I find this regularity amazing.

This morning, I was pleasantly surprised by this bloomer! I've not seen it bloom before and happily announced this to my Facebook friends (along with happy purchase of an electric tea kettle and hopefully happy purchase of a new stove). I'd been calling the plant an aloe, but friends more knowledgeable thought it was an agave. As I had to rush off to work, I didn't have time to research. But I think I've figured it out, as I can find only one plant with strings like this one has:

I suspect it's agave filifera. "The name filifera is Latin for ‘carrying threads’ and refers to the fine hairs that grow along the leaves." Some of the sources are confusing this with the century plant, aka "agave americana" which doesn't have white strings and grows instead a huge tall bloom.

There's Julia in 2009 at West Wetlands Park, beside a century plant.