Night Blooming Cereus

 I had 9 night blooming cereus to open. The picture above and the one below were both taken about 9PM. They are exquisite in every detail. But they only get better as the night passes.

The last two pictures were taken about 1AM. By that time the blooms were fully open and the sepals were fully re-flexed as can be seen in the last picture.

I saw a sphinx moth checking them out.
This is the third flush of blooms I have had from these plants this summer. The plants are very old. I have had them myself about 45 years and I continue to root pieces . The original came from my grandmother who spent several years in Florida and brought the original back to Alabama when she returned. I seldom fertilize. I go not repot often. In fact, I leave them in the same pots until the roots eventually crack open the pots. I use plastic pots to decrease the weight of the plants as they get heavier and bigger as they grow. My plants have limbs that are 5/6 feet long and are certainly not graceful. But when they flower, they can be forgiven. In their natural element growing in trees, water drains away quickly and there is not a lot of soil, so keeping them pot bound simulates that environment. It seems to me that letting them get dry and then watering again brings on a new flush of flowers. They are a joy to watch bloom and almost the only care they require in my zone 8 garden is to keep them from freezing.

Night Blooming Cereus

I have had a bumper crop of night blooming Cereus! I counted 24 blooms. Twenty one of them opened the same night! I have 5 plants growing in pots. I leave them in the same pots till the roots split the pot; they seem to bloom better that way. I put them inside the greenhouse when the weather cools off, usually about mid-October. Since the plants are so large and ungainly I coral them with a rope. In the summer I stand them against a rickety wire fence. The treatment seems to agree with them. Over-watering is not a problem since they are so root bound. I do water them several times per week and fertilize haphazardly. They generally open about 9 PM and by 7 AM they have turned to mush. Short-lived, but so beautiful and fragrant! They are about the size of a dinner plate

Night Blooming Cereus Cactus

I have several large Night Blooming Cereus cactus which I keep in the greenhouse through the winter. In the summer I set them outside in partial shade. They typically bloom 3 or 4 times each summer and it's not unusual for one to throw a bloom in the fall after I have taken them into the greenhouse. Even though I keep them near the back door where I can easily step out and see them, I often forget to look and next morning all that remains  of their stunning beauty and fragrance is mush. When bloom time is getting close the flowers which grow straight develop a crook so that the open bloom points to the side or up instead of down. This characteristic not only alerts me to the coming flower but also may the source of one of it's common names, Dutchman's Pipe Cactus. The scientific name is Epiphyllum oxypetalum. Another common name is Queen of the Night, which it certainly is.

 Away from it's home range in Mexico,and Latin and South America it never sets seed and altho I have read that it is sterile, I suspect that the right moth or other pollinator is not on hand to do the job. It can be readily propagated from a leaf or stem cutting. Put the cutting in a soilless light  mixture, and water frequently til rooted. This plant  is called a cactus and care should be taken not to overwater. Give bright light, but not full sun. The Plant should be grown in a pot that appears too small, in other words, under pot.  My plants which are perhaps 6 feet tall have to be propped or tied up to remain upright. These plants grow naturally in the bits of organic matter caught in the crotches of trees and branches, so they do not need a lot of soil. If yours is not blooming, too much root room may be the culprit.

Night Blooming Cereus

 

My night blooming cereus(s) (I have 4 or 5) had 4 blooms one night and 4 the next also. The second night I forgot to look at them and was sitting on the porch when I smelled their wonderful fragrance.This picture was made of the first night's bloom. I think this may be a nymph cricket on the bloom. These flowers cannot be open long before all sorts of critters are attracted to them, but none of the moths that pollinate them in their native habitat in South and Central America and the Caribbean. The next morning they hang limp and mushy after one night of glory.

Here is an overnight time lapsed picture series (40 sec)that shows how the flower changes through the evening.