Saturday, March 21, 2009

The Spanish Dagger blooms

Twelve days ago Lyn came in to tell me the Spanish Dagger at the property corner was starting to bloom. I had dug this plant up on the Marshal Ranch close to Lago Vista about ten years ago. I had asked Mr. Marshal if it was okay and he said to take as many as I wanted. I dug up two little ones about a foot in diameter, getting a goodly amount of roots with both. I planted one along the driveway and the other a few feet away from a corner marker of our property. As there is no fence on that side I thought it would always let me know where the pin was located. The property next door has been surveyed twice since then. Both times I've been lucky enough to see them start working. I told them where the pin was to save them time looking and gave further instructions to not hack my Dagger as by then it had gotten much larger.

In only ten years the Dagger has grown to over ten feet high, and is over eight feet wide and has developed two heads. I've never tried to trim it or make it look nicer like some do. It can't be seen from the house but I always like to see it bloom. It can be quite spectacular.

Here is a picture of the bloom head just twelve days ago.



Four days later.


Four more days later.





And finally, today.



11 comments:

Cindy, MCOK said...

Magnificent, Bob!

Rock rose said...

Gorgeous. I hope mine will do that one day.

Lee17 said...

All I have to say is COOL!!!

Anonymous said...

Hi Bob.
That Dagger is a stunner, the bloom is so tropical looking. How tall is that plant in the last shot? I like the natural un-trimmed look.
ESP.

Chandramouli S said...

That's fantastic. It's like watching a beautiful face burst out into a delightful laughter in slow motion.

Anonymous said...

Wow, great post. Love seeing the stages. What a gorgeous plant.

ConsciousGardener said...

Awesome! You know, they threw a fit at Zilker when I wanted to put one in the Green Garden because it was "dangerous." Dangerously beautiful:) Cool beans.

Unknown said...

Just stunning! I really miss our old Spanish dagger that bloomed at our old house.

Margie said...

ConsciousGardner, I'll have to agree that the Spanish Dagger is a dangerous plant. I didn't realize this when I had two of them planted in my yard. When one of them died, I had a hard time discarding it and, even though I was very careful, I got stabbed in the leg through my jeans. Recently, while trimming a plant near it, I got poked on the top of my head. Since then, I've learned to be super cautious around them and trimmed lower leaves with no injuries, thank goodness.

The bloom on the dagger was very similar to the pictures above. Can the bloom be trimmed now that it is spent?

Tine Tine said...

soooooo beautiful!!!!

LADY-V said...

WAAAWW..BELLISSIMO VERRAMENTE