Wednesday, September 5, 2012

Night-blooming Cereus

This cereus blooms only a few hours one night a year.  The three plants I have bloomed in July by surprise and  the blossoms had died before I realized they had bloomed. 

 I had ten blossoms last night and about 11:00 we went to the lower deck to get some pictures.  I could tell from the upstairs bedroom that they were in bloom because of their fragrance.

The cereus is easily rooted and when I accidentally break a stem I just stick it down in a pot. 

Probably most of these plants come from a common ancestor. A friend whose passalong plant also came from my mother had 53 blossoms at one time.  But her plant was too much for her to bring in and it died when cold weather came. In Zone 6, the huge plants have to winter in the basement.  Therefore they require some effort to keep.  But you can see why they are worth the trouble.

2 comments:

  1. Good afternoon Jean, hope you well, I been looking everywhere for this plant. The you know where I could by from. Kind regards Maria

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  2. This looks like the plant that someone gave my wife, although hers doesn't have any flowers yet. I wonder if you can tell me something? We live in South Central Alabama and my wife had this plant setting out on our deck. Before we knew it, it had gotten cold enough that frost had fallen on the plant. She brought it inside but the leaves are starting to turn brown looking. Is there any hope for this thing living or do we give it a nice service and burial?? Thanks for helping me with this.

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