Once in a Century?

One of the plants that grows well in our resort is the Century Plant, Agave americana. 

The name comes from the long-lived nature of the plant, though they really only live 20 - 30 years.  The plant's last act of life is to send up a spectacular flowering stalk, reaching as high as 30 feet.

We have a very large Century Plant at the gate of the resort, and it has sent up its flowering stalk. The plant itself is about 6 feet in diameter, and the stalk is 25 feet tall. Another resident took this picture and I've borrowed it to show the overall plant.

I had noticed as many as four hummingbirds feeding on the flowers, and this morning Teri texted me that she was seeing up to six!  So I headed out to the gate with the camera to see what I could capture. 

Here is a picture of the blooming part of the stalk.  Click on the picture to get a better view.  The hummingbirds were busy chasing each other away, but you can see one here just to the left of the main stalk, about halfway up. They look tiny!

And to get an idea of just how big these flower heads are, and how many blossoms are in each, here is a picture of one "clump".  This little Black-chinned Hummingbird has plenty of blossoms to choose from.

In addition to hummingbirds the various bees, wasps and other insects are enjoying the blooms as well. The individual flowers open over several weeks. In the picture above you can see the still-closed buds in the lower part of this clump, with recently opened flowers near the top. 

Sadly, the entire plant will die this summer, but they send out plenty of "suckers" from the base so there will be several smaller plants to take its place.  Life goes on...