Century plant blooms in Magnolia

Donny H. McDonald pictured in front of his blooming Century Plant at his home in Magnolia, AR.
Donny H. McDonald pictured in front of his blooming Century Plant at his home in Magnolia, AR.

Donny Hugh McDonald has lived in Magnolia all of his life and for the past 13 years a Century Agave Plant has joined him. Nicknamed the “Ruby Pickens” plant after the late former local librarian, the plant has been under the care of McDonald since before he moved into his current residence on West Calhoun Street.

Pickens first gifted the plant to McDonald 13 years ago where it started to grow in a small pot. Since then, it has been transitioned into the front yard of his home where it currently resides to this day. Over the past three weeks, the plant has started to grow a significantly tall, center stalk, also known as a bloom spike. ”I have never seen that” said McDonald in a brief chat Wednesday morning, “It was like overnight.”

The spike began to grow tall approximately three weeks ago according to McDonald and has grown taller than the roof of his home since then. Information sourced from many gardening blogs state that the plant’s spikes can grow upwards of 30 feet tall. In fact, even thought the plant is called the century plant or Agave Americana, they typically only live for 10 to 30 years. The plant itself was first described by Carl Linaeus in his 1753 edition of Species Plantarum and it is mostly found in the southern United States of America.

McDonald is a 1974 Magnolia High School graduate and has been a life-long resident of Magnolia.

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