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Gardener's delight after giant rare plant flowers

John DevineBBC News, Cambridgeshire, Hartford
News imageJohn Devine/BBC The front garden of a property on a housing estate has a very tall over 6m (22ft) tall agave americana plant growing between rafters of a wooded structure that was a makeshift greenhouse but now the roof has been removed to allow the spike to grow up. Two cars are parked on the driveway, one black, one white, with a white BBC van parked outside the house.John Devine/BBC
Mr Kennington said that the weather conditions have been perfect for his agave americana to flower as he had not seen a really cold winter "for years"

A gardener has described his delight that his rare plant has flowered after a quarter of a century.

Tony Kennington, 78, who lives in Hartford, Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, said he was given the agave americana 25 years ago when it was 45cm (18in) and now it is more than 6m (20ft) tall.

The specimen originates from North America and is known as the century plant as it can take up to 100 years to produce flowers and will always die after it has done so.

"I was so shocked when I saw the flower stalk appear. I never ever thought I'd live to see it," Mr Kennington said.

News imageJohn Devine Tony Kennington has a bald head with grey hair on the side of his head with side burns, he is wearing dark tinted glasses and has a light blue shirt on. Behind him is a wooden structure with cross beams that was previously covered in Perspex sheeting before it was removed in May to allow the plant directly behind him to shoot up to over 6m (22ft). The plant has clumps of yellow flowers on branches from about 4m (13ft) up the trunk.John Devine
Tony Kennington had to take the roof off of his makeshift greenhouse after the plant started to sprout a central flowering spike in May

Mr Kennington said he has taken great care of the plant for the past quarter of a century and kept it in a pot as a house plant for the first five years.

"I planted it out in the garden and made sure it was protected from any hard weather, once it was established it was strong enough to withstand one or two frosts," he said.

He added that in early May he quickly removed the plastic roof of a makeshift greenhouse he had constructed around the plant to allow its stalk to grow.

With the knowledge that the plant would die after it blossomed, Mr Kennington said he made a wager with the agave americana when he took ownership of it in 2000.

"I whispered to it, who'll die first, me or you?

"People say to me 'are you going to plant another one?'. I say I'll not be around to see [it flowering] happen again, so I won't be doing that," he said.

News imageJohn Devine/BBC Bright yellow flowers of the agave americana plant appear at about 4m (13ft) up the central spike which is about 20cm (8 inches) in diameter, some of the buds are still closed and look like tiny clumps of bananas.John Devine/BBC
Mr Kennington said that the bright yellow flowers that appear from about 4m (13ft) up the central spike attract "lots of bees and wasps"

Guy Barter, the Royal Horticultural Society's chief horticulturist, said the plant was tender and it was unusual to find it growing outside.

"It is monocarpic flowering then dying, but young offsets ('pups') arise around its base so the plant sort of lives on, even though the central rosette perishes.

"It builds up resources over a number of years (not usually a century) and then flowers," he said.

Mr Barter added that opportunities for it to achieve flowering size in Britain were limited to frost free situations and greenhouses.

"Its lofty flower spike is tricky to accommodate in most greenhouses - panes in the roof may have to be removed.

"Flower spikes can reach 8m, so a 22-footer (over 6m) is larger than usual but not unprecedented. Under climate change outdoor agave are expected to be more common," he said.

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