Monday, July 06, 2009

Cereus hildmannianus

And this is the first bloom for this plant this year.


When I went outside at 11 pm, there was no sign of the bloom actually opening, so I went to bed assuming that the bloom would take place tomorrow. Sometime after that...we got a little bit of rain, and the darned thing opened. This is the bloom begining to close actually, it was fully spread at about 8 inches wide at some point last night, trying to entice the night flying bats that polinate it. While we have bats here, I'm not sure we have the right ones, as I've never heard of this plant actually getting polinated in this area... of course, they're not extrememly common around here, it's quite possible that there's no cross pollination going on... I don't know if they self-pollinate... I've certainly attempted to intercede before, and it didn't work.
Anyway... that's the bloom.... if you click on the label below, you'll see some of the other blooms that have happened over the years... much more impressive ones actually...

5 comments:

  1. Great pic. I have been trying to get a photo of my daughters cereus in bloom- but never around that late! It was fun looking back at your past blooms!

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  2. On June 22, 2008 it really went wild with multiple blooms!!! They sure are lovely blooms, aren't they??? Thanks for the great shots, and I am glad you happened to get them just in the nic of time...eh?

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  3. hello chris...

    I was just over at your blog but this darned contraption wouldn't let me leave a comment. Anyway, welcome!

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  4. I think I missed a night bloom last night too- the camera battery died just as I noticed my fuzzy navel was going to bloom- Yours is lovely-even on its way to closing!

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