Nolinas are some of my favorite desert plants, and so I have a few of them in various places in the front garden. They’re related to Agaves and Yuccas, and in fact were once considered part of the Agave family. They’ve now been split out into the Nolinaceae, along with Beaucarnea (sold in many plant stores as “ponytail palm,” though it’s not a palm at all) and Dasylirion, which readers in the Tucson area (and say hello, why doncha) will know as “sotol” or “desert spoon.”
Nolina microcarpa is probably my favorite among Nolinas, if for no other reason than it’s the one I see most often while hiking in the desert. Kat and I wandered past a few dozen of them on that waterfall hike in April, and I saw hundreds hiking in Sedona a couple years back. It’s less dramatic than some of its cousins, for instance the extravagant Nolina parryi, but few things scream sense of place to me the way a rosette of Nolina microcarpa leaves do, subtle and unassuming among the chollas or ponderosa pines or junipers.
So I planted one in my yard a couple three years ago, and it has dutifully and unobtrusively put out leaf after long, tapered leaf since then, asking nothing in the way of water or fertilizer or attention and holding its spot in the garden well. But today, carrying 60-pound bags of concrete from the truck into the garage, I realized that the garden held a long green-gray spike that I hadn’t seen before.
It was the Nolina microcarpa, flowering.
Five-foot, nine-inch dork pictured on right for scale.
I am happy.
oh come on, you chose to stand next to that skinny stalk to show us how much leaner and stronger you have become.
Fog is a pretty cool hydration system for plants that live without much attention.
“a couple three years…”?
You can take the boy out of Western New York…
what is it going to do next? really? if this is the big push to flower out, we’d better see some photos.
spyder, this plant and all the other around the vicinity did get some extra hydration this wet spring. maybe that is behind the vivid growth spurt?
The gardener/measuring stick looks so pleased he’s practically blooming, too.
But where is Zeke?
Future Google hits for CRN will include:
“nine inch dork” photos
When we were in Big Bend last April, we bought two walking sticks from the nice men from Boquillas who waded across the river to sell them to us. I believe Victorio said they were sotol stalks. They were very hard and stout.
I guess these are the same sort of plant stalks?
Good to know you’re keeping those knobby knees out of the sun.
I was trying to think of the right affectionately smart ass thing to say, but Roxanne beat me to it. Once the beard goes all white, I see some Jerry Garcia comparisons.
Oh, man. How awesome is that? I salute the green thumb!
I don’t make a practice of hugging trees. But on
the other hand, I cringe when I see pampas grass
in dry Arizona (even up here in the piney mountains.) One of my plans to save the world is to get everybody in dry country to substitute a substantial bear grass (I know, nolina) for every pampas grass plant. I have two purchased nolinas, another growing from a seed I planted, and two volunteers. Last year, one somewhat shaded, reached about 15 ft high for some sun before blooming, with scattered blossoms. This year, the other boughten plant bloomed practically at the roots.
Julie