80-Year-Old Plant Has One Month to Live

An agave plant that took 80 years to bloom will be dead within weeks, according to its caretaker at the University of Michigan. The American agave plant has been housed in Ann Arbor since 1934. It shot to a massive 28 feet high last spring, during a growth spurt that came just before its flowering. Now that is has produced its seeds, though, the plant is rapidly declining and only has about a month left. “There’s really no value to leaving it up anymore, because it’s going downhill so quickly,” said Mike Palmer, the horticulture manager at the University of Michigan’s Matthaei Botanical Gardens. “It was a good run.”