Chris Davis' yard has become a local attraction over the past several weeks, as a rare botanical spectacle - for this part of the world, anyway - has been unfolding in front of his Athens duplex.

In a corner of the Cedar Shoals Drive lot, firmly situated in the edge of a drainage ditch along the road's shoulder, an agave plant - likely an Agave americana, also known as a sentry plant, or century plant - is blooming.

The name "century plant" is a reference to the plant's long life, which can stretch decades, but falls far short of 100 years. Davis reckons the agave in his front yard, a short distance from Whit Davis Road in the eastern end of Athens-Clarke County, is somewhere around 30 years old.

Sadly, the blooms are a signal that the plant is about to die. But it will go out in glory, as a fast-growing, long stalk emerging from the center of the plant is festooned with branches loaded with yellow flowers.

Davis said he first noticed the emerging stalk when it was about four feet tall, just peeking out of the center of the agave, a succulent plant. Succulents are plants with fleshy leaves or stems that store water and are more common to the southwestern United States and Florida.

Now, the stalk stretches about 25 feet, nearly straight up, with a number of branches in its upper reaches already loaded with yellow flowers, and other branches loaded with flowers changing from green to yellow.

According to Davis, the agave was planted by a former neighbor, Randy Parker, who has since died, and whose wife moved out of the duplex a few years ago. Davis has been taking care of the yards on both sides of the duplex for years, but said he has taken no special pains to care for the agave, other than cutting the grass around it.

"Basically, that thing just kind of takes care of itself," Davis said Monday, standing outside his home.

Nonetheless, the agave has become something of a conversation-starter for Davis, who has lived in the duplex for more than 20 years and said he's been recognized more than once with the line, "Oh, you live where the cactus is!"

The agave, whose base stands at least five feet tall, has been a subject of interest for motorists and other passersby for years, Davis said, with some people taking time to have themselves photographed with the plant.

That interest has only increased as the stalk has emerged, and the agave has attracted significant local interest on social media as people have noted its blooming. A Facebook post this weekend by someone who's been watching the plant got nearly 40 "likes."

In a typical week now, Davis said, he'll see three or four people stopping to look at the agave - and that's just when he's home.

"But I've gotten used to it," he said. "It's kind of fun."

And, truth to tell, Davis is in no hurry to see the plant come to its end. In fact, he's been worried a little when recent high winds and heavy rains have lashed the plant.

"A windstorm will come up, and I'm like, 'Don't fall,' " he said.

He's also not eager to find out what the agave's last days will look like in terms of its continued flowering and the aftermath.

"I haven't gone online and looked, because I just wanted to be kind of surprised," Davis said.

Whatever happens, Davis will know what to expect whenever the spectacle unfolds again in his yard. A second agave sits in the duplex's front yard, in the shadow of the one now blooming.

• View more photos of the plant in our slideshow.