--what would get us up in the middle of the night, you ask?? This:
This is a variety of "night-blooming cereus," an unusual cactus that has huge, striking blooms. You can read about it
here, and scroll to the bottom of
this page (bottom left photo) to see a picture of a mature specimen. Only problem is, they don't bloom during the day! We got our cactus from a friend of Tom's a couple months ago, and have been keeping a close eye on it the last couple weeks once we saw the flower buds start to appear. Yesterday afternoon, it looked like these two were going to open-- we checked on it a couple times throughout the evening, but no luck, by the time we went to bed. So, the alarm clock was set.
The flowers are 6-7 inches long, and about 5 inches across. I'm assuming they're pollinated by some sort of moth, but I can't find any info about what kind. According to the internet, the flowers are very fragrant, but I couldn't smell a thing. Maybe my nose wasn't awake yet?? The internet also says the plant will eventually grow to be a branched clump 30-50 feet high, but that it's a slow-grower. (thank goodness!! But it will eventually make a very impressive statement in the backyard.)
Although I was perfectly willing to stumble back to bed and save looking at the photos for this morning, they were
definitely worth waking up for!
This is a variety of "night-blooming cereus," an unusual cactus that has huge, striking blooms. You can read about it here, and scroll to the bottom of this page (bottom left photo) to see a picture of a mature specimen. Only problem is, they don't bloom during the day! We got our cactus from a friend of Tom's a couple months ago, and have been keeping a close eye on it the last couple weeks once we saw the flower buds start to appear. Yesterday afternoon, it looked like these two were going to open-- we checked on it a couple times throughout the evening, but no luck, by the time we went to bed. So, the alarm clock was set.
The flowers are 6-7 inches long, and about 5 inches across. I'm assuming they're pollinated by some sort of moth, but I can't find any info about what kind. According to the internet, the flowers are very fragrant, but I couldn't smell a thing. Maybe my nose wasn't awake yet?? The internet also says the plant will eventually grow to be a branched clump 30-50 feet high, but that it's a slow-grower. (thank goodness!! But it will eventually make a very impressive statement in the backyard.)
Although I was perfectly willing to stumble back to bed and save looking at the photos for this morning, they were definitely worth waking up for!
2 comments:
I agree-worth getting up for! What other mysteries occur while we sleep?
Very cool!
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