A Fragrant Jungle Room

As usual, the night-blooming jungle cactus made buds without me noticing them until some were close to opening. Then, as usual, I forgot to keep checking them. One bud, clear up on the ceiling where I predicted last year that buds would form ( http://lindafink.blogspot.com/2011/08/night-blooming-cereus.html,) opened and faded before I realized it. Blessed flower.


However three more are just opening tonight. And five more are still closed tight... for a total of nine buds this year... a new record for my plant. The other plant at the far end of the balcony has never bloomed. At least, not that I've noticed.

Here are two of the buds two days ago when I first noticed them, and then tonight, when they had started to open.













Same two flowers twenty minutes later and then fifteen minutes after that.

















Here's another just opening... and thirty minutes later...













Having three of these fragrant flowers in bloom in one night is a mite overpowering, especially coupled with Kahili Ginger flowers, also in bloom. The gingers have been blooming for weeks with new flower stalks still coming. The jungle room smells like Hawaii. (I have that on good authority as friend Robyn who grew up in Hawaii stopped by today and said so.) Here's a photo I took of ginger flowers in various stages from bud to open to fading, along with their neighboring papaya tree (yes, the papaya is still producing.)



In the length of time it has taken me to write this and upload these photos, the fragrant white jungle cactus have fully opened... or as full as I'm going to see them. I'm going to bed. G'nite!