Rare plant spotted in Bexhill

Botanist Anthony Hamilton was driving along Cooden Drive in town when he discovered the 20ft flower spike of a century plant, which had suddenly appeared alongside a house.

He said: “I find this very interesting because to have this plant suddenly produce in just a few days a flower spike of more than 20ft is spectacular.”

Mr Hamilton said he knew this plant well from his overseas professional travels studying plants in Mediterranean climates.

He added: “Many Bexhill readers will have seen these on their summer holidays. It is called agave americana or the century plant, named after the perceived time it takes to flower.

“Of course, it doesn’t take 100 years before it flowers but it does take decades. These plants are natives of Mexico and the south-western United States.

“They are prone to destruction by frost in hard winters and it’s only in southern coastal areas in England that they can be grown at all.

“Flowering is quite a different matter. Only in the very mild climate of the ‘Cornish Riviera’ and the Isles of Scilly can you expect this.

“When flowering is due, after a couple of decades of plant growth, the flower spike appears and suddenly it spurts into growth and reaches 20 or more feet in a very few days. It then spreads out with an attractive flower spike.”

Mr Hamilton contacted the Royal Horticultural Society, sending several photographs of the plant.

The society has asked him to publish an article on this because it has no record of agave flowering in the domestic context.

After flowering, the flower spike dies, followed later by the entire plant but not before it has produced numerous offsets around the base.

Agave americana is cultivated worldwide as an ornamental plant. It has become naturalised in many regions, including the West Indies, parts of South America, the southern Mediterranean Basin, and parts of Africa, India, China, Thailand, and Australia.

Don’t miss out on all the latest breaking news where you live.

Here are four ways you can be sure you’ll be amongst the first to know what’s going on.

1) Make our website your homepage at www.bexhillobserver.net/

2) Like our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/bexhillobserver

3) Follow us on Twitter @BexhillObs

4) Register with us by clicking on ‘sign in’ (top right corner). You can then receive our daily newsletter AND add your point of view to stories that you read here.

And do share with your family and friends - so they don’t miss out!

The Bexhill Observer - always the first with your local news.

Be part of it.