Night Blooming Cereus
I missed it again! I've had this night blooming cereus for over 30 years. It came from our neighbor at Cobbs Corners, --Grandma Rickey. She was tired of it because it hadn't bloomed and its leaves are long and sprawling. I was intrigued by this plant and have kept it all these years.
The night blooming cereus does just what its name says. It blooms at night. In the morning, the bloom is spent. My plant usually has a couple blooms late in the summer. I try to notice when the buds are swelling into an egg shape, getting ready to bloom. It takes several weeks from bud to bloom. Then suddenly, one night, the bloom opens into a beautiful, huge, white flower that looks like it's been shaped in wax. It has a nice smell that's very distinctive.
Sometimes I pick the bloom before I go to bed and put it in the refrigerator and then I can look at it in the morning. But if I don't notice it and don't pick it when it blooms, in the morning it is hanging limp, no longer lovely.
I missed it this year. It bloomed last week while I was busy with company and celebration and I didn't notice. I saw on Saturday that the two blooms were hanging limp.
It makes me think of a phrase from an old hymn, "Perishing things of clay, born for but one brief day." The song isn't about the night blooming cereus, but its bloom certainly is born for but one brief night.
Here is a link to see a picture of the night blooming cereus: http://www.desertusa.com/mag99/july/papr/nbcereus.html
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