The Alien in My Neighbors Yard
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April 13, 2003 The other day we were sitting out on the patio enjoying a cocktail at sunset when the missus turned to me and asked "Have you noticed The Alien growing in Judy's backyard?" I turned around to see the biggest stalk of asparagus I had ever seen in my entire life. Doing a little research, it turns out to be a pretty spectacular phenomenon. It's a bloom of the Agave Americana a.k.a. The Century Plant. This plant lives it's whole life just to produce this one flower and then it dies. I'm going to update this page every couple of days, as the thing grows and finally blooms. |
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April 13, 2003 The actual base of the plant is about 5 feet in diameter to give you a sense of scale. I'm guessing the spike is probably about 15-17 feet tall right now. Spikes have been known to grow as tall as 40 feet. |
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April 20, 2003 Not much has changed except that the spike has grown another 2 feet. Driving around town the other day I noticed several other Century Plants with spikes. I can only assume that the very wet winter we had this year, after many years of drought, has caused some of the older agaves to bloom. I decided to take some other pictures of things that are blooming around our yard: Bouganvilla |
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April 20, 2003 Detail of the Spike. |
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May 15, 2003 Over the past few weeks nothing significant has happen except the continued skyward growth. I estimate it must be close to 25 feet tall now. I've had to change the angle of my photos in order to get it all in the frame. |
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May 15, 2003 Yesterday we noticed the arms beginning to sprout from the alien. They will eventuall grow out horizontally approx. 5 to 8 feet and small yellow seed pod/blossoms will bloom at the tips. |
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June 10, 2003 Upon my arrival home, much has changed with the Alien. It contiunues to grow taller, at least 35 feet now. And it's "arms" have fully developed and are beginning to produce blooms. My neighbors were here two weeks ago and did some serious yard clean up. After much pleading on my part, they decided to leave the alien as is. Apparently this is not the first time they have had a bloom like this. The last time, the winds uprooted the plant sending the spike down on the house causing minor damage. I asked them not to sue me if it happened again. They agreed. |
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June 10, 2003 If the palm trees look funny to you, it's because it's trimming season. Every spring most folks have their palms hacked back and they tend to look rather odd for a month or so. |
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June 10, 2003
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June 16, 2003 Last weekend I had to attach a rope to the alien and lash it to a fence post. We had some high winds and it looked as if it might uproot itself. I notified our neighbors and they said they would come down and take care of it, yet no sign of them. There's really nothing more I can do about it. |
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June 20, 2003 Last night and today the winds are pretty strong here and I fear we could lose the alien any time now. What scares me even more is that if it comes down it will take out their phone and cable lines as well as the main service line. That power line drops from the pole across the pool to the house. If it comes down, it will undoubtedly electrify their pool. I don't know what it all means, but no good can come from a live power line in a pool! I'll keep ya'all posted. |
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July 6, 2003 The Alien is hanging on by a thread, literally, at this point. It appears that the bloom is still alive and well, but the base is visibly dying. The spike is being held up only by the rope I attached last month and the telephone wire. I tried lifting the thing to hike up the rope, but I could barely budge it. It weighs a friggin' ton! The upside is that the spike has decided to fall away from the house and the power line. If it were to collapse now, the only wires to suffer would be cable and phone. Still now word or sign of the owners. |
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July 6, 2003 Detail of the phone line. |
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July 6, 2003 Rope burns. |
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July 6, 2003 The base of the plant which is obviously dying. |
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July 28, 2003 So long Alien in My Neighbors Yard. While we were away, the owners cut her down. I'll take some more detailed photos this evening. My neighbors are finally getting started on the renovations, so there are workers all over. Since my spanish is so poor, I'm not sure how to communicate to them that I'm not an INS agent with a camera and all I really want to do is take pictures of a dead plant. I fear something might get lost in the translation. |
