Flower Friday : : Melianthus Major

Everybody probably has areas of their gardens that they don't really see very much and maybe don't do much with it...our 'out of sight, out of mind' spot is actually in front of our house at the top of our lawn, and it is turning into the battle of the giant plants....

Melianthus is one of those plants we stuck in the ground with no idea how big it would get. It has become  so entwined with a very spiny agave, that we are unable to get to it to cut it back to control its explosive growth. The finer foliage visible behind is the olive hedge that lines our driveway. The Melianthus (or 'honey bush')  is planted well below the hedge on a slope below the driveway. We didn't realize how big it had gotten until we saw some of the red flower stems poking their heads above the olive hedge! When we investigated we realized that an agave had gotten quite large and was battling with Melianthus which was also growing wildly. 

The agave is probably an offspring of the giant blue agave which grew above the driveway until 2017 when it bloomed. Once they put up a giant flower spike agaves die. Left to their own devices, thay take a long time to do it, so we had it taken out before it started looking bad. It took two guys two days to chop it up and haul it away.

It seems that it had ensured its perpetuation before its inevitable demise by casting seeds from the gigantic blossom to the four winds...seeds which are now producing little agaves everywhere. Then those agaves are capable of producing more plants from their roots.

OilMan bought a special tool that is used to cut off the 'leaves' of the agave (each one of which can weigh 20 or more pounds) but it isn't really sharp enough. While he ponders some way in which he can do it himself without having to pay someone to do it they are all quietly multiplying all over the place. If they aren't dug out before they're more than a few inches tall, they become more and more difficult. 

The moral of the story is don't plant agave unless you have a plan for keeping it under control. And don't plant another plant that needs controlling anywhere it....

Thanks, Biker Bear, for keeping this challenge alive singlehanded. It is a great pleasure for me to look for and at flowers.