Queen of the Night part 2

[MereDintofPandiculation]

I think it might be kicking off tonight. Here the flower is at 17cm on Tuesday night

Normally, that would be enough for it to open the same night. But no it's decided to take things slowly. Here's Wednesday night. A bit longer and slimmer.

But tonight, things seem to be moving! You can tell the buds are longer - the plant seems to have got a lot smaller

I'll try and post again later tonight.

Tonight is definitely the night

Are you getting any sleep, or do you have to stay up watching her?

She'll be out before bedtime.
I should have previewed - this is from 10 mins ago

And now it's out. Beautiful, delicate, scented, and all the more precious for being one night only.

Wonderful, Mere! I was hoping for an update! A shame the flowers are so fleeting, all the more special for that, tho. (I use Harrisia jusbertii for grafting, it makes excellent stock).

Wow.
I'd never heard of these - they're not the sort of thing you come across when visiting gardens etc I suppose because they're nocturnal.

Very beautiful.

So lovely!

Wow

I suppose because they're nocturnal. And also because they're cacti. Not many places make a feature of their cacti.

It's still out this morning, and it's a cool morning so will probably last another couple of hours or so.

Thanks for sharing, MereDint, that is (?was) beautiful.
But cactus are too prickly for my liking. I shall stick to my stargazer lilies, despite the disgusting lily beetles.

I once knocked a small cactus off a shelf in a shop, and in an unusual display of fast reactions caught it.
So I think I'm with senua ... admire the photos but stick to lilies, sweet peas etc etc for scent.

Here's one I used to have, but it kept spreading, so dug it out. Like Queen of the Night it opened at night, and lasted about two-three days.

What's that one echt? It looks like an Echinopsis. Flowers aren't quite as big as the Harrisia bonplandii, but they're still really impressiva, and hang around a bit longer, as you say.

@echt, that looks like a Trichocereus species (I think Trichos are now classified as Echinopsis these days).

nan yes it has, along with Lobivia (which really upset me as by and large I like Lobivias and dislike Echinopsis when not in flower) and Chamaecereus

@MereDintofPandiculation, I’m afraid I’m not a lumper, I prefer my plants to have “old” names, and I’m in no hurry to change lots of labels!

Oh, I'm definitely a lumper, given the range of variation in many species. It's not lost on me that the families with lots of species differing in tiny details tend to be those of commercial interest - Orchidaceae, Cactaceae .... I can understand the point of view of a grower who wants to distinguish between say a cream flowered Mammillaria bocasana and a pink flowered one. In theory that's where variety names come in, but I get the impression they're normally used for deliberately bred forms rather than naturally occurring ones.

It's a cactus I picked up at a Rotary Sunday market; often unlabelled. Yes, I can see it's an echinops now. The flowers, always in pairs, are each the size of a medium grapefruit. I have other flowering cacti and will post when they bloom.