Night Blooming Cereus

No, I didn't publish photos with yesterday's blog about the blooming garden. If I took photos then I would have to wait til I finished the roll of film, get them developed and by that time, ya'll would be on to another subject. Just like the photos I just got back from the Los Locos parade. I'll save those for next year.........even though they are delightful. A digital camera is in my near future..........So Steve, here is a photo of something that blooms in the garden - but only at night!It is the most spectacular, exotic bloom that I have ever seen. I brought a leaf from Houston when I moved down here and I now have several plants. The bloom is about 8 inches across and has the texture of a gardenia.........velvety smooth. The fragrance is amazing. When I lived in Houston, I had the plants in the atrium which was closed off by glass windows and glass doors. I could tell when it was blooming because the fragrance would flow through the glass! It is a clean lemony smell - breathtaking!
The bloom starts out as a small cylinder initially and as it gets ready to bloom it lifts itself up into an upright position and then blooms at about 10PM at night and in the morning, it's all over!

When you look at it up closely you can see that there are subtle shades of lavender and gold although the predominate color is white..........It's a tropical jungle plant and therefore I'm amazed at how prolific it has been in this high desert climate.

However, we've had enough rain in the last week to qualify as rainforest climate...................I'm expecting blooms any night!