Gift from a Stranger
Many years ago, Ken came home from a bike ride with a hunk of cactus strapped to his bike.
Mother Plant
Ken rides at night in the summer, because it is cooler. During one of his night rides, he noticed a huge cactus covered with 6-inch wide, fragrant, white flowers. Another time, he rode during the day, saw the Lake Worth, FL, woman who owned it and stopped to compliment her on the flowers he had seen. She grabbed a saw and cut off a piece of her cactus and gave it to him with instructions to stick it in the ground and it watch it grow.
It Grew!!
It did, indeed, grow. In less than two years, it was a single 10-foot tall cactus. It stayed that way until pieces of it snapped off in one of the hurricanes of 2004. We took the pieces and stuck them in the ground in the farthest corner of the front yard.
10-foot Tall Night Blooming Cereus
In a couple of years, there were several 10-foot tall cactuses that began to flower and produce fruit.
Night Blooming Cereus
Night blooming cereus is a term used for many types of night blooming cactuses. The flowers of all varieties of night-blooming cactuses are white. The white color reflects the moonlight and attracts the pollinators. Some flowers have a fragrance. Most sources say the flowers last only one night and die when the sun rises.
That is not the case with cactuses in our yard. The flowers open each night by about 10 PM, close up before the sun rises and open again the next night.
Nocturnal Flowers
Two nights ago, I returned home around 10 PM to find that the buds I had seen earlier on the cactus had opened, and there were huge white flowers covering the branches.
Flowers on Night-Blooming Cereus
Flower on Night-Blooming Cereus
Flowers on Night-Blooming Cereus
Flowers on Night-Blooming Cereus
In the Daylight
The following morning, I checked the cactus for blooms. The blooms were gone, but the original buds were still there. The flowers had closed up overnight.
Buds on Night-Blooming Cereus
A difference was noticed in the buds of flowers that had closed overnight and those that had not yet bloomed.
Buds on Night-Blooming Cereus
White petals could be seen inside the partially opened buds of the ones that opened the night before. The ones that were yet to bloom were tightly closed.
Second Night
Last night, the cactus was full of white flowers, again. I took more pictures, and upon comparison, the pictures show flowers in the same place as the previous night, as well as, new buds that had opened.
Flowers on Night-Blooming Cereus
Flower on Night-Blooming Cereus
Flowers on Night-Blooming Cereus
Add to that, there were no dead flowers on the ground anywhere. No doubt, that the same flowers are opening and closing. Pictures are the proof.
A Bit of Cactus Trivia
Because the flowers are only open at night, sphinx moths* and nectar-feeding bats rather than bees are the pollinators.
(* a side note: It is ironic that sphinx moths are necessary for pollination. Sphinx moths are the adult form of hornworm caterpillars… like the ones found on my tomatoes last season.)
After Pollination
Once the flower is pollinated, it wilts and dies and the green fruit bud sets.
Wilted Flower with Fruit Bud
There are a lot of pictures with this post. I just couldn’t help myself. Flowers that bloom only at night are fascinating, and they are beautiful!
Click on any picture to make it larger. Use the arrows on the left and right to move through the pictures in the post.
Tags: cactus · Night-blooming Cereus · Sphinx Moth · Tomato Hornworm14 Comments
Lila, I used to have this cactus at my old home in Lake Worth. So beautiful when in bloom. I was fortunate to see a bat feeding from the blooms one night. PS I love your garden site.
Spectacular pictures Lila!! : )) Wish I had a yard to plant a night blooming cactus…
Awsome, i have one too, its first bloom was tonight and I was searching online to find out if I could cut the flower and put in water cause i heard that it dies the following morning. However thats all changed, I cant wait till the morning to see if it just closed up…lol Im so gitty. Freaking awsome plant!!!
Will,
Let me know if your flowers stay and open the following night or nights. I was totally surprised when mine did. Also, check out the update I did to this post. More night blooming Cereus information. http://www.watchmyfoodgrow.com/backyard-garden/night-blooming-cereus-update/
Thank you Lila for the pictures and inspiring story. I live in Houston Texas and in my mom’s neighborhood I have seen this cactus. My daughter was so intrigued that she made me get up at 04:00am to see the blooms. I am lucky to still occasionally be able to take the time to smell the “roses”. If this isn’t a dessert rose,I don’t now what is.
wanting to know how to get a starter off of my friends plant. its 10 ft tall single plant.
I was lucky enough to “steal” a 7 foot tall one of these cactus at a yard sale this spring for $10. I have had no luck figuring out what type,of cactus it was until it bloomed the last couple of nights. I have been giddy as a school girl waiting for it to bloom ! (And I’m a 50 year old man!) thanks so much for all the pictures! Most pictures I have found are only of the flower itself so it was nice to see the actual spine and growth of the plant to help identify. I am in Missouri and lucky to have 12 foot ceilings so I can winter it. Thanks again.
Hi Lila, I live in Western Australia and came across your site when I was looking for info on my cactus. I was under the impression that it’s a Moonplant, so now I’ve learned a bit more about the Night blooming Cereus, not to mention that I now know it’s real name! I was given two 4 or 5 foot long branches a few years ago and I passed one onto my son. Mine took to it’s pot well and on the second summer it flowered over a period of about 5 nights. The flowers only lasted one night then wilted and fell off the next day. The one my son took went mad that first summer, producing so many flowers that we lost count and it was also about 3 times taller than mine. (Still is truth be told!) He then gave me a cutting off his plant which has thrived and flowered for the last three summers, and the original one I potted is still flowering although it’s a lot paler in colour than it’s smaller companion. Such fascinating and beautiful plants aren’t they, I get so excited when they produce buds, which my oldest one is in the process of doing at the moment. Thanks for your interesting site, I’ll visit again.
I got a free package of cactus seeds 5 years ago and planted them in a pot. 4 plants got 2 inches tall and one plant is now 7 feet tall.
It bloomed for the first time this year, 3 flowers. It must spend its winters inside since I live in Missouri.
Love the pictures! We have three of them!! Tons of flowers and now we are getting a whole lot of the fruit as well. Just put some in the fridge and will try to eat when cold! Hope it’s good – we have quite a crop! First summer/fall in our new home in Scottsdale, AZ and very exciting to see beautiful huge fragrant flowers at 11pm at night!! Any suggestions on eating or preparing the fruit???
Hi, Sue. I did write about eating the fruit. Use this link: http://www.watchmyfoodgrow.com/backyard-garden/not-crawling-through-the-desert-looking-for-water/
is there a need to let the cactus cutting dry out a little before planting to keep it from rotting
Tom, Let it set until the cut end has dried. Then plant it in sandy soil. It should root fairly easily.
With all this info, it should be noted that there are upwards of a thousand verity of night blooming cereus. This is but one. They range in sizes form just several inches tall to ten feet. From pencil thick to five or six inches in diameter. I was hopping that some were in this article the name of this one was shown. I have one in my yard. It has had over 100 blooms this year as well as last year. This Tucson, AZ and when we have a wet monsoon these magnificent cactus light up many neighborhoods, One problem is the birds love the fruit and if you want to make jelly or jam you need to cover them until they are ripe/
Thanks for your article.