I had never heard of a Night Blooming Cereus before buying our house from the parents of Leslie Lahey, but when they moved out and we moved in, she had left me with a large plant of this type of cactus. A little searching taught me that, indeed, this plant blooms at night, but also, that each flower only blooms once from around 7 pm until 7 am the next day. A one-night wonder!!!
Also called Queen of the Night (along with a few other plants, so don’t mistake one for another. This is the reason it is preferable to use botanical names rather than common names), this is an unusual plant, and one you must share with others because you just don’t see them around much. This year I have had three blooms – I missed the first two (don’t blink or you’ll miss them!) and the third bloom is just about open. I am not leaving the house until it finally blooms!!!
Forgive the quality of the photos, but here is the bud forming and a few days later, when the bud turns up towards the sky. How many more days??? We’ll see…
Five days ago…
Day 5 - It bloomed!
Day 6 - Finished!
