Queen of the Night blooms! For one night a year only! My neighbor, Zdena, grows many Nightblooming Cereus, or Selenicereus grandiflorus cacti, and one was blooming tonight. She texted me and I ran over. It’s a challenge photographing this amazingly intricate flower with it’s deep, coiled center, in the dark! The flower is probably eight inches across.

You’d never guess from looking at the bud (see “The Queen That Didn’t Bloom”) that this big bloom is folded up inside a bud like this.

Night blooming cacti have to wait for cooler night temperatures for their pollinators to do their job. They usually bloom in late June around here. If the Sphinx Moth, one of its biggest pollinators, succeeds in pollinating the flower, the plant will produce a a bright scarlet fruit with black seeds. I have seen two of these in my garden, but I’ve never had one pollinated.

Here’s another shot with different lighting. The scent is just as lovely and powerful as the blossom.

Nature in it’s infinite wisdom created a spectacular flower which blooms once a year, or years, only at night! Have you seen one of these in person? It’s quite remarkable. I now have my own plant that is huge! It’s easy to propagate, Zdena just gave me a cutting, and there are stems now reaching eight feet.

Thanks for reading! – Kaye