Night blooming cereus

A few years ago the heater in our four season patio failed.   Of course, heaters only seem to fail on the coldest nights of the year, so by the time we checked on the patio in the morning, the 30 below zero outside temp had brought the temperature inside the patio to well below freezing.  My peace lily survived the deep freeze, but most everything else was non-revivable. 

That day, I posted a note about the loss of all my beloved plants on a national gardening forum.  A week and a half later, I received a package from a lady in Lousiana whom I have never met.  She felt so bad for me with the loss of all my plants, that she'd cut slips from some of hers and overnight mailed them to me.  You've gotta love the generosity of gardeners, don't you?

 One of those slips was a night blooming cereus.  Night blooming cereus is a form of spineless cactus whose bright green glossy leaves grow in a sprawling fashion.  They produce large, white, very fragrant blossoms that begin to open around sunset, reach their full glory around midnight, and collapse and fall by dawn.  The plant generally does not begin to bloom until it is about 5 years old and initially only produces a few blooms.  As the plant becomes more mature, it will set buds along the entire length of the long, wavy leaves and bloom from midsummer through late fall. 

My new plant is just getting to blooming age, so I am hoping for at least a couple blossoms late this summer.  One of the challenges of growing night-blooming cereus in North Dakota is that it needs complete darkness during the time it is setting buds and blooming.  It sets buds in mid-summer, a time when we have very few hours of complete darkness here.  In the past, I've found that sets the bloom time back some, to later in summer and fall, when the nights have started getting longer again.

Night blooming cereus likes bright sun and tolerates very hot temperatures.  I move it outside in the summer and back into the patio right next to a west window when the nights start getting down into the 40's. 

Care needs to be taken when moving the plant.  They have a shallow root system and, with their long heavy succulent type leaves, they are very top heavy.  They should be planted in a heavy pot to add some weight to the bottom.  A porous pot is best, since these plants do not tolerate any water standing around their roots.

They should be planted in a rapidly draining sandy soil and watered only when the soil has dried completely.  Night blooming cereus are not hungry plants and require feeding with a standard houseplant fertilizer only about once a year, in the spring.  They grow quickly and may need to be pruned occasionally to keep them in check.  They can also be grown on a trellis, but this tends to make the roots less stable and the plant more top-heavy over time. 

Night blooming cereus are very easy to grow.  It takes a lot of patience to wait for a night-blooming cereus to bloom, but look at this picture of one of the blossoms - worth waiting for, don't you think?

I'm looking forward to mine!