Waiting to Bloom

 Waiting to Bloom

In April 2003, people at the Beardsley Zoo saw a very unusual sight. This zoo in Connecticut is home to an 80-year-old mother of pups. An animal, you ask? No, not at all. It's an 80-year-old plant. It makes young plants called "pups."

This desert plant is called a century plant. It takes a long time for the plant to bloom. Most don't take 100 years, though. The century plant uses all of its energy to bloom. It blooms only one time and then, unfortunately, it dies.

This century plant was given to the zoo in 1956. One day in 2003, a zoo worker noticed something. A flower spike had started to grow from the 4-foot plant. Soon, the spike grew an amazing 25 feet in the air.

In April, beautiful yellow and green flowers had bloomed, and the plant had lived its full life. Don't worry, though. New pups are ready to take its place.