PlantFiles Pictures: Night Blooming Cereus, Queen of the Night, Dutchman's Pipe (Epiphyllum oxypetalu, 1 by radnip

radnip wrote:
This is by far my favorite plant. I actually love the long stems more than the leaves. The only thing I don't like is when it gets burned over the winter and I have to clip it....I'd much rather it just grow and grow. The stems can get over 8' high or more...I have to get on a 6' ladder to tie them up.

I have three plants in massive pots and a couple in the ground. The flowers are exactly like these in this picture the next day ...limp. I have more pictures at my pages (under radnip) at webshots.com.

In Los Angeles, and before that in Houston, and my father says in Taiwan as well, we have always had this plant, in one form or another. My father grows his against shaded walls (north side) outdoors and I have one set (not sure whether it is one plant or more but it all started as one plant about 6 years ago from a couple cuttings my father gave me) against two walls partially under the shade of a persimmon tree.

I rarely trim them though I am constantly tying up their stems or untangling them. I am also usually tying them up to strong supports, usually some giant stakes, though the plants have been known to break or bend them. The plants in the pots have also been known to flop over in wind, therefore the tying-them-up part.

They definitely look better in partial shade though one of my giant pots is in morning sun and shaded by the house in the afternoon (east side of house).
They flower for us pretty much constantly. Depending on how much care of it I've have taken over the year, it will bloom a huge mass (50+ flowers) or much fewer. I suppose I ought to take newer pictures, though my plants have been neglected this year due to the house being worked on.

The plants that get at least 1/2 day sun bloom much more than the ones under the trees, though they all bloom. Even my tiny ones from cutting (I try to keep what cuttings I can) will try to bloom, though not always successfully. You can see the buds come in and fall off, usually only someone who knows what to look for knows a flower bud just fell off.

I have noticed that the plants only begin to bloom after a period of very warm weather. I would guess at least 80 degrees F. It will bloom constantly, taking about a month to create the next set of blooms, until the weather turns colder. Each bloom takes a few nights to finish -- usually a few the 1st night, a lot the second night or a few nights later, and a few stragglers the next night.

The flowers have the most heavenly scent and I cannot imagine not having any flowers to perfume the night. I think if I could camp next to them all night, I would. I'm a night person, so it took my early-morning husband to discover you can still see the blooms early in the morning before the sun comes completely up. As long as the bloom is in shade, it'll still be open a bit.

My mother sometimes will cook the spent flowers. I think it's all edible but only the petals are not slimy. I have tried this and it is okay, but a lot of work just to pull the petals apart so I can chop them a bit and stir-fry them. I think if it wasn't that much work, I 'd eat them more :)

I do not find this plant ugly at all, though it does need a little bit of upkeep in the spring. I usually just leave it alone, except clean it up a bit, give it some water and heap some mulch on it after the winter.

Hmm...time to make sure mine are tied up.