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Navarre Garden Club, Plant of the Month for

SEPTEMBER 2004

Presented by Linda Henderson

HYLOCEREUS undatus
NIGHT-BLOOMING CEREUS, QUEEN OF THE NIGHT
Cactaceae
CACTUS
Zone Tropical South; or indoors
Full Sun or Light Shade
Regular or little water

A plant that is often passed along from friend to friend, parent to child. Origin unknown, but widely cultivated and naturalized in tropical America. Deep green, three-ribbed, 2-in.-wide stems with short dark spines grow quickly to 15 ft., sometimes to 30 ft. long, attaching themselves to a tree trunk or wall or house by means of strong aerial roots. Without a support to climb on, the stems create a large, freestanding mound, with a beautiful snaking pattern. Grown primarily for its waxy fragrant, white nocturnal flowers, which are up to 1 ft. long. Individual flowers last just one night, but plant may bloom all summer. May also produce showy, red, 4-in.-long fruits, which are edible, even deliciously sweet. Tolerates salt spray.

Easy to grow outdoors in Tropical South. Elsewhere, grow in container and bring indoors in winter, keep air moist and night temperature above 55 degrees F. Can survive drought but does best if watered regularly until flowering starts, then sparingly through the summer, to encourage flowering.

(Taken from The Southern Living Garden Book, Apr 1999, ISBN 0-8487-2017-2)

Personal comment from the presenter:

I thought the plant only bloomed one night out of the whole year. But, it blooms often and all blooms on the plant bloom all at the same time for only that particular night. The first two years the plant did nothing. Then the next year it bloomed once that year, this year it has bloomed three or four times. Once it had 23 blooms on it all blooming at once. You cannot see the blooms hanging at the back of the plant in the photos. You cannot believe the incredible fragrance with all these flowers blooming at once. You could smell them all over our neighborhood, that is, if you were walking your dog at 2:00 a.m.

 

     

Click on photos for larger image.