(Shropshire Star via SWNS)
By Ed Chatterton and Dominic Robertson
A gardener was left stunned after a rare plant she bought 50 YEARS ago finally bloomed - and now towers over her house at 20ft (6m) tall.
Green-fingered Hilary Chappin, 82, planted the agave in a tiny pot after buying it in London half a century ago when her daughter, now 52, was a toddler.
She kept it in a conservatory area and has even moved house with it three times - before planting it outdoors when it got too big.
Hilary has now been rewarded with the stunning rare flower - which has grown upwards 20ft in the air and dominates her garden in the Midlands.
She said she was "thrilled" when she realized the plant, which is a member of the asparagus family, was set to bloom.
Hilary, of Telford, Shrops., added: "I cannot tell you how excited I was when I realized it was going to happen; I was jumping up and down.
(Shropshire Star via SWNS)
"The first time I noticed any change to it was in April and since the middle of April it has grown 20ft tall."
Throughout the years, she has been meticulous in her care for it, bringing it indoors for the winter to prevent it succumbing to the harsh British climate.
When it eventually became too large to move inside she took to covering it with a fleece to protect it from the cold.
Hilary added: "I bought it when I lived in London 50 years ago and it was a little plant in a pot and it grew and it grew, and I re-potted it into a couple of pots.
"First we moved to Ironbridge and I had it there in a pot. I used to bring it inside in winter because they are frost-tender.
"So I looked after it, then when I came here it was so big I planted it in the garden.
"Every winter for the last 23 years I have wrapped it in fleece to protect it from the frost, and suddenly this year it has sent up this flower spike."
(Shropshire Star via SWNS)
Some varieties of the plant, which is a succulent, can go as long as 60 years before they flower.
The plant has been commonly known as 'the century plant' due to the historic belief that it only flowered once every 100 years.
The phenomenon is all the more rare because of the geographical location.
Generally the plants are more likely to flower on the south coast, or in controlled environments such as botanical gardens and glasshouses.
The flowering, which started in April, will last for several months before the plant dies.
Hillary does have another 'baby' agave, but she said given the time it has taken for her grown-up to bloom, she's not expecting to see another one.
She said: "It has been a companion and a friend of mine for 50 years, but I do have a baby.
"I am 82 years of age so I don't think I will get to see the baby flower.
"I never thought I would live to see it, not in Telford, I truly didn't think it would flower in Telford."
