Jack and the Beanstalk? No, Brenda and the blooming giant tree

A Pevensey Bay gardener has grown a 30ft tall extremely rare desert plant.
Brenda Tarrant with her rare agave tree in her garden at Pevensey Bay (Photo by Jon Rigby) SUS-171008-104540008Brenda Tarrant with her rare agave tree in her garden at Pevensey Bay (Photo by Jon Rigby) SUS-171008-104540008
Brenda Tarrant with her rare agave tree in her garden at Pevensey Bay (Photo by Jon Rigby) SUS-171008-104540008

Brenda Tarrant, of Norman Road, has grown the Agave tree in her garden, but says she and her husband Keith are not keen gardeners.

She said, “I can’t say we have nurtured it, we just planted it from a pot it outgrew and ignored it.”

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It seems the dry area by the seafront provided perfect conditions for the plant – which is native to Mexico, South America, and some parts of the US – to thrive.

Brenda Tarrant with her rare agave tree in her garden at Pevensey Bay (Photo by Jon Rigby) SUS-171008-104510008Brenda Tarrant with her rare agave tree in her garden at Pevensey Bay (Photo by Jon Rigby) SUS-171008-104510008
Brenda Tarrant with her rare agave tree in her garden at Pevensey Bay (Photo by Jon Rigby) SUS-171008-104510008

Brenda, 75, said it started growing four to five inches a day until they could no longer measure it.

She said, “It was like Jack and the Beanstalk!”

It has started blooming a few yellow flowers, but sadly as soon as it finishes flowering it will die.

The Agave tree is known to lay dormant for years before suddenly bursting into life, growing rapidly and flowering – then dying just as suddenly.

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