The first of the three “Queen of the Night” flowers opened tonight. We went up the little hill where the cereus cactus is growing and took several images of this beautiful flower. There are two more buds that should open in the next day or so. Looks great, smells great! Click on the image to enlarge.
UPDATE (7/20/13): The other two cereus flowers opened last night. I captured this image of the two open flowers and the remnants of the frower from the night before. Click on the image to enlarge.
Absolutely stunning! I’m so glad you found some on your land!
And the pics are well done, too.
I have Pygmaeocereus bylesianus, which is a a stubby little Night Blooming Cereus from Peru. It has the same snow white flowers in a smaller size, but they have the same spicy fragrance. It blooms regularly for me.
Was there a broken branch laying beside the other Cereus you found, as I thought there might be? Did you try to make a cutting of it?
We found a broken branch but it was already dried out from the desert sun. There are a couple of branches on our other one and we may snap one of them off and put it in a pot.
They smell wonderful! We have another couple cereus that get the bright white flowers also but not the fragrance.
Better to cut the branch you choose in the thickest part. The stub will put out new branches, but the cutting will root best from the fleshy part, not the thin woody part.