A Tree Grows in Tucson

I figured out that my new(ish) phone has an Add Text feature in the photo editing app.

These are two volunteer trees, pooped out by some animal exactly where I'd have planted them myself. The photo seemed ripe for digital experimentation.

Thanks for indulging me.

But what I really wanted to show you is this.

Driving out in the morning, I stopped to admire the healthy green glow of plants I'd nurtured for a decade or more.  There was nothing particularly unusual about the scene.

This afternoon, pulling the trash can up the other side of the driveway, I saw this.

Where there was nothing, there was now a stalk.

My agave, a tiny fellow when we first met, has given birth. 

I'm resisting the urge to identify the bottom of the shoot with my new toy.

I'm trusting that you can see it nestled in the middle of very spiky protective aunts and uncles. 

Up close and higher up, the nutrients are gathering. 

Up there is the burgeoning flower.  It will be yellow and tiered and not really all that attractive, at least when viewed from a distance. 

 I'm not sure how I'll feel about it once it's mine.  At the moment, I'm an anxious doula with close ties to the family.