Awakening to Spring

Agave desmettiana

The temperatures are warming and my garden is absolutely coming to life.  Well, it really wasn’t dead or brown because I do live in the Arizona desert, but many plants that were dormant during the winter, are starting to produce new leaves AND flower buds…I can hardly wait!

For the first time, I have decided to enter Gardening Gone Wild’s photo contest.  The theme for March is “Awakening”.  

Arizona desert

Flowers of an Agave desmettiana

My entry is a photo of the flowers of an Agave desmettiana which are just beginning to open up in March.  These flowers are the crowning glory of the mature Agave plant, which pours all of it’s energy to producing these beautiful flowers.  Afterward, the Agave will die, but will live on through it’s offspring. 

Noelle Johnson, aka, 'AZ Plant Lady' is a author, horticulturist, and landscape consultant who helps people learn how to create, grow, and maintain beautiful desert gardens that thrive in a hot, dry climate. She does this through her consulting services, her online class Desert Gardening 101, and her monthly membership club, Through the Garden Gate. As she likes to tell desert-dwellers, "Gardening in the desert isn't hard, but it is different."
18 replies
  1. Edith Hope
    Edith Hope says:

    Dear Noelle, I have never seen an Agave flower look so amazing. The close-up photograph is truly magnificent and captures so well the energy of new life.

  2. Liisa
    Liisa says:

    Noelle,
    A beautiful portrait of an Agave desmettiana bloom. The bright yellow certainly makes one think about spring awakenings. Good luck! 🙂

  3. catmint
    catmint says:

    Hi Neolle, great photo, you can practically feel the soft polleny tips. The light is beautiful, it is an aesthetic study in yellow and green. And the story of the agave dying but living on through its offspring is very poetic but such sacrifice is not so admirable from a feminist point of view. (lol). Very different to some female spiders that mate and then eat the male! There needs to be balance in these thing don't you think? Cheers, catmint

  4. leavesnbloom
    leavesnbloom says:

    its quite an unusual choice for a spring awakening from my neck of the woods – but being that little bit different from everyone else might give you a leading edge in the competition Noelle. Its a real starburst of colour. I wish you all the best in the competition.s

  5. Kimberly
    Kimberly says:

    Noelle, what a beautiful photo of the agave bloom. Mine bloomed last year…I'd never seen this display previously! It was great fun. We laughed over the "gigantic asparagus" growing in the front garden. LOL! This is the first time I've heard of this contest, also. Great photo for such a contest. I'll have to check it out. Good luck!

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