Sallie Bingham

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You are here: Home / New Mexico / The Century Plant

The Century Plant

July 1st, 2018 by Sallie Bingham in New Mexico 1 Comment

Agave americana in bloom in Portugal.

Agave americana in bloom in Portugal (Wikipedia).

Here in the desert mountains of Northern New Mexico, now in the grip of five years of drought, I’ve come to appreciate the spikey plants that thrive on relentless sun and little water. Queen among them is the Century Plant, which begins its long life as a cluster of tough, thorn-tipped leaves and ends it, once in a century (or less) by producing its only bloom.

My Century Plant has passed years quietly in the gravel bed of my garden, no longer in the midst of the brilliantly-colored flowers I no longer have enough water to raise. Then, suddenly, about a month ago, it up shot a short, stout, purple-tinged shaft from the middle of its cluster. The shaft continued to grow rapidly and is now about twelve feet tall, thick and imperturbable and absolutely straight. At its top, small clusters are beginning to form which will soon open into small, drab flowers. And then, in a month or so, the shaft will begin to wither, sinking down at last onto the gravel, and the plant itself will crumple up and die.

I’m not sure Sido, the mother of my much-admired writer, Colette, had a Century Plant in her beloved garden in the south of France, but she did have something that bloomed once and then died. Colette writes of the elderly Sido that “with the sudden flicker of ‘wild gaiety'” in her all-seeing grey eyes, “an urge to escape from everyone and everything”—an urge her daughter understood, and shared. And yet, when Colette, now a successful writer, invited her mother to visit her in Paris, Sido replied that she wanted to stay in her garden to see her Century Plant bloom, an event she did not expect to live to see again.

I find in this the wisdom of old age: to stay and savor, rather than leaving to experience more. Yet as Colette writes in all her novels, the desire to roam is deeply rooted and is not diminished by experience or age.

The wisdom of old age: to stay and savor, rather than leaving to experience more.

Fortunately, I am here to see my Century Plant bloom in the next week or so, and to see the proud stalk slowly wither and fall to the ground. It will be my task to cut if off finally and throw it in the compost bin and then to watch the mother plant die. The cycle is always alarming and also reassuring—the push to grow tall and then the inevitable decline.

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In New Mexico Santa Fe My Garden

A long and fruitful career as a writer began in 1960 with the publication of Sallie Bingham's novel, After Such Knowledge. This was followed by 15 collections of short stories in addition to novels, memoirs and plays, as well as the 2020 biography The Silver Swan: In Search of Doris Duke.

Her latest book, Taken by the Shawnee, is a work of historical fiction published by Turtle Point Press in June of 2024. Her previous memoir, Little Brother, was published by Sarabande Books in 2022. Her short story, "What I Learned From Fat Annie" won the Thomas Wolfe Fiction Prize in 2023 and the story "How Daddy Lost His Ear," from her forthcoming short story collection How Daddy Lost His Ear and Other Stories (September 23, 2025), received second prize in the 2023 Sean O’Faolain Short Story Competition.

She is an active and involved feminist, working for women’s empowerment, who founded the Kentucky Foundation for Women, which gives grants to Kentucky artists and writers who are feminists, The Sallie Bingham Center for Women's History and Culture at Duke University, and the Women’s Project and Productions in New York City. She lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Sallie's complete biography is available here.

Comments

  1. Sara Morsey says

    July 2nd, 2018 at 7:47 am

    Intrigued by the title, I left this one in my inbox until Monday morning. Enjoyed over morning coffee. Thank you for your sharing of your talent and your insights.

    Reply

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Watch Sallie

Taken By The Shawnee

Taken By The Shawnee

July 6th, 2025
Sallie Bingham introduces and reads from her latest work, Taken by the Shawnee.
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Visiting Linda Stein

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Back on October 28th, 2008, I visited artist Linda Stein's studio in New York City and tried on a few of her handmade suits of armor.

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Rebecca Reynolds & Salie Bingham at SOMOS

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This event was recorded November 1, 2024 in Taos, NM at SOMOS Salon & Bookshop by KCEI Radio, Red River/Taos and broadcast on November 8, 2024.
Taken by the Shawnee Reading

Taken by the Shawnee Reading

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This reading took place at The Church of the Holy Faith in Santa Fe, New Mexico in August of 2024.

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Sallie Bingham's latest is a captivating account of ancestor's ordeal
Pasatiempo, The Santa Fe New Mexican

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