A horticultural phenomenon is taking place at a Cornish garden as a
plant that only flowers once every 15 to 20 years has started to grow.
The Furcraea longaeva which can grow in excess of 40ft tall - a world
record - has started a new lifecycle at Trebah Garden near Falmouth,
Cornwall. This will be a once in a lifetime opportunity for some
people to see the flowering of a plant which has an unusually long
lifecycle.


The exotic plant, which originates from Central Mexico, is thought to
have sprouted earlier than usual as a result of an extremely cold
winter. Trebah's head gardener, Darren Dickey said: "What makes them
so unusual at Trebah is the fact that there are so many of them
grouped in one distinct area.

"We think that the flowers have been spurred on by the cold winter we
experienced. They don't like the cold and their instinct is to fight
for survival. The really are out of this world."

The plants have started flowering on the Rockery, above the Lawn Path
of the Cornish garden. They start off as a soft, beautiful blue-green
rosette that eventually form a trunk of around 6ft. The umbrella type
plant then spikes into a huge tower of flowers, with pendulous
branches and white petals cloaked in white velveteen.