Rebekah’s Studio

Spectacular night blooming cereus blossoms. Photos copyright 2017 Rebekah Luke

For the second night in a row I remembered to go into the front garden to view the night blooming cereus. Each bud opens up for one night only and will start closing at dawn.

I acquired cuttings of this plant from the historically famous hedge on the lava rock walls of Punahou School in Honolulu when I saw the gardener trimming the sprawling cactus one day. I pulled my car over and loaded the trunk with the pokey “arms.”

Tonight’s bloom is the largest of mine to date. I figured out that trimming encourages blooms and controls willy-nilly spreading. A layer of pohaku (rock) in a free form shape on the ground tells me where to trim so that the cereus is confined to a definite area.

Gosh, after tonight I’ll have to wait until next August to see the next bloom of these beautiful flowers.

Copyright 2017 Rebekah Luke