Annuals bloom continuously, usually until they die back at the end of the year or season. Perennials bloom every year and…
Annuals bloom continuously, usually until they die back at the end of the year or season; perennials bloom every year, providing color all season, blooming sporadically after a burst of flowers, or blooming for a limited period of time lasting only a couple of weeks; and biennials bloom in their second year and then fade away.
But there is another group of plants, called monocarpic plants, that grow large over their entire lives, produce just one swan song flower, and then leave us alone in a giant compost heap in the sky.
Some monocarpic plants, whose name comes from the Greek words for “single” (“mono”) and “fruit” (“karpos”), have developed a cult following among some gardening enthusiasts, who wait for years and often throw parties to show off their once-in-a-lifetime withered flowers.
But other growers may be caught off guard when they find that a 30-year-old garden plant blooms unexpectedly and then dies shortly thereafter.
Of course, flowers have a purpose: to reproduce. Once the flowering is over, the plant fulfills its mission by producing seeds to reproduce future generations. Monoecious plants only do this once, and as you might imagine, the effort is often spectacular.
Examples of one-hit wonders
The century plant (Agave americana) is a prime example of hyperbole in its very name. Rather than live to be 100 years old as its name suggests, this desert plant, native to Mexico and Texas and hardy in zones 8 to 11, has an average lifespan of just 10 to 30 years. During that time, it grows to about 6 feet tall and sends out enormous flower stalks that can reach 30 feet, often surprising owners and making the news.
A 19-year-old American giant bamboo (Frasera caroliniensis) growing at the Botanical Gardens in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, has been a big hit locally this spring. Native to the eastern and central United States, this unique plant grows in foot-tall clumps for years before bursting into 6- to 8-foot-tall stalks of green, purple-spotted flowers.
Generally hardy, resilient and drought tolerant, this category of monophytes also includes fishtail palms (Caryota spp.), which can be grown outdoors in zones 9b-10. These trees can grow to over 50 feet tall and after 10 to 20 years produce drooping panicles of beautiful magenta flowers with yellow centers. The good news is that the flowers continue to bloom for up to five years, after which the flowering trunk dies back and is replaced by secondary trunks, if any. Fishtail palms grown as houseplants are unlikely to flower.
Bamboo, the bane of many gardeners, is also a monocotyledonous plant. But don't expect flowering bamboo to stop being invasive: some bamboo species can take more than 100 years to flower, and even if they do flower, new plants may emerge from the rhizomes.
Bananas are also monophyly, but they reproduce by sending out small shoots, or suckers, from the roots. After the single fruit is harvested, the main plant is cut down to ground level and the suckers take over.
Sempervivum, a genus of succulent plants, is commonly called “hens and chicks” or “house leeks” and is hardy in zones 4-8. They grow into dense rosettes 6 inches tall and reproduce by producing smaller rosette offspring that then form rosettes of their own. The offshoot “chickens” can be carefully removed from the mother plant (the “hen”) and planted elsewhere, or left as is to plant in masses. It takes approximately 3-4 years for the mother plant to sprout an eye-catching 8-inch-tall stem with a star-shaped flower at the end and then die back. The chicks, however, will continue to live a life of their own.
Another popular houseplant from the Bromeliad family, Aechmea fasciata, often referred to as the “urn plant”, also flowers just once at around the age of three, producing small purple flowers on beautiful spiny pink bracts that complement its slim silvery-green leaves. Like other plants, the mother then gives up her life, passing on the family tradition to her newborn children.
Ah, the cycle of life.
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Jessica Damiano writes a weekly gardening column for The Associated Press and publishes the award-winning Weekly Dirt Newsletter. Sign up here to receive gardening tips and advice every week.
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