Rare plants flowering for only time in Devon after 10 years

The furcraea longaeva has hundreds of flowers that last a couple of weeks

Three plants which have taken more than 10 years to flower are currently in bloom at a garden in Devon.

The furcraea longaeva are more than 5m (16ft) high and will only flower for a couple of weeks before the plant dies.

They were planted 10 years ago by gardener Sam Elliott at the National Trust's Overbeck's Garden, near Salcombe.

He said it was "really exciting" to see them flower for the first time.

"It's monocarpic, meaning it will flower once then die as it spends 10 years building up energy in leaves, stem and roots," Mr Elliott said.

The plant is more than 5m tall

"It will leave tiny 'bulbils' that we will use to propagate future plants. They can take another 10 years to flower, but possibly up to 25 years in some cases."

Perched on the clifftops overlooking the Salcombe estuary, the garden enjoys a mild micro-climate. Chris Groves, head gardener at Overbeck's, said: "Conditions have been right to encourage the plant to flower, possibly down to the hot summer last year and cold winter.

"We were really excited about spotting the flower shoot appear about a month ago and then see the flowers arriving last week. We hope people come to see this unusual plant before the flowers fade."

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