I am tapping away on the keys but my body is still fast asleep at home in bed or at least it should be. This sleepy gardener stayed awake another night to watch and marvel at the beauty and fragrance of the Night Blooming Cereus or Epiphylum oxypetalum. Since the addition of the greenhouse at Menagerie Manor this jewel blooms several times a year. The day before it blooms I carefully bring it into the Manors garden room so the flowers can be enjoyed by everyone who braves the night to bare witness of the opening. Truth be told I bring it in because the last time our neighbor "The Crazy Cat Lady" just about destroyed the greenhouse tripping over everything as she clumsily tried to photograph. She definitely is not feline in her movements.
The upper picture is the bud at about three weeks, it starts out the size of a pin head. And the last, although sideways is the bloom which is about the size of a softball and a fragrance that is intoxicating. And of course by morning it is closed and starting to wither.
I am trying to visualise what to expect soon with my own Bakawali. Thanks for sharing Doc. But the way you described the fragrance, I really have to smell myself to understand what "intoxicating" really is...
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Bangchik, you will see what I am talking about when yours bloom. I catch myself sitting and enjoying the fragrance and letting the job at hand go unfinished. Four flowers filled all levels of my house with fragrance.
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