More drama in the garden!

My Fucraea foetida has sent up a bloom spike in the last few week, about 20ft or more tall now and starting to send out the secondary branches which will hold the delicate flowers. While related to Agaves, Furcraeas are much more 'refined' in that they are more often spineless and have a more open inflorescence structure. And the flowers hang down so you can see into them even though they are so high up in the air. I find them fascinating.

The straight, green leaves are about 6-8ft long, standing in a dome-like, loose, rosette, often with raggedy edges which are a bit suggestive of spinyness but are not spine tipped. The spike rose like a giant asparagus shoot very quickly, raising all sorts of reactions from the neighbors! It now has its very tip nestled in the branches of the Redwood tree behind, probably higher than I could ever reach with my pole pruners. It truly dominates the intersection in front of our house at the moment.