The many buds all curved up and ready to open? Tonight? I counted a total of ten buds. Nine are large, one small one that may delay blooming after the other nine.
We shared a thread with others who cheerish this plant as much as I do.
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1002283/
Another view:
Well as it turned out, the flowers did not open last night. Phews! Maybe tonight. Pix was taken a little while ago.
Lily -- I am out in Arizona and it is 8:30 here, probably 10:30 or 11:30 there -- hope you are enjoying your lovely blossoms. Can't wait to see the results.
Jean
I was hoping to see them also. I'll keep checking this thread before I go to bed.
If not last night, maybe tonight. Waiting for the outcome.
watching
sandy
Oooh, look what I've been missing! Wowsers! I want to know what y'all feed your plants to get so many buds! I moved my big E. oxypetalum out of the pool area into the yard ... didn't plant it, just sat the pot out there. It's not looking too great, something has been eating all of my plants this summer .... Grrrr!
Lily ... any of those huge buds opened yet? They sure look awfully close! Let me know if you can detect the fragrance. It's weird but my husband said mine was extremely fragrant and I couldn't smell a thing! My big Epi hookeri has bloomed a couple of times over the summer but only two or three blooms at a time. I'm thinking about planting that one in the ground under a palm tree for it to climb up.
Check for snails!!!! Darn things tried to take over my yard this summer.
Also I think in my case it get to hot in the shade house. Darn.
Sandy
Sandy ... I swear this year has been the worst for bugs! I planted tomatoes in the ground ... eaten by something, planted them in containers ... eaten again. A friend suggested one of those upside down hangers, so I bought one at Home Depot and planted some tomatoes in it. It's hanging inside my screened pool area and I still found worms on them!! Arrrgh! And, I don't know what's eating all the garden plants but something has been chewing holes in the leaves the entire summer. I haven't seen any snails but whatever it is, it's a night time chewing insect because I can't find anything during the day. So, I'm assuming some sort of worms or possibly snails coming out after dark and having an all night gourmet meal! I hate using chemicals because I have breathing difficulties with stuff like that and I also feed the birds and wouldn't want to take a chance on poisoning them ... I just hope next year is better.
It sounds like the army worm they feed only at nigh.
Hi gals, I dread to think what I am in store for when I get back to FL. My one and only epi there belonged to my grandmother and is outside so will probably be eaten up when I get back down there. The ones I have in AR (progeny of the one in FL) have bloomed three times already this year and are inside the sunroom. The fragrance is almost overpowering -- nice at least for me and everyone else that has smelled them. Of course, I even like to smell privet LOL When we were taking pictures of the previous flush, I was holding a sheet up so that DH wouldn't get reflections when he used the flash. I could smell them quite awhile before he finally told me that he could smell them. The night we were taking pictures the sunroom door was closed, but for about two days later, once in awhile I would get a whiff of their fragrance at various places in the house! Amazing! The two that have been blooming usually give me seven to nine blooms in all. We repotted one of them last fall in Miracle Gro soil and the other one is just in regular garden soil. The only "fertilizer" I give them is banana peels. When we left for California on Aug. 27th, I saw more tiny buds forming on both plants. I can hardly wait to see what they are doing now.
Waiting for pictures!!!!!!
Jean
Wren: I think you are right ... it probably is the army worms eating everything, since they are night feeders.
Jean: When are you going to be back in Florida? I hope you don't find any insect damage to your plants, maybe they have stayed over on the east side, LOL. For the past three months I have been talking about mixing up a batch of BATS and using it and still haven't done it, can't remember if the label says anything about army worms but it might take care of them!
I think the next time my Epi oxy blooms, I will cut a flower and bring it inside to see if I can smell it. I swear I couldn't detect even the slightest hint of fragrance the last time and yet my husband said it smelled wonderful! Sometimes it's not fair to have sinus problems!
I keep forgetting to put banana peels on my plant. I used to drape them over staghorn ferns because I heard they liked the potassium. I've got to make myself a note to throw a few peels on the oxy, and maybe I'll try them on the Epi. hookeri and Ric Rac's as well! Can't hurt!
I have to may pots to put banana peels in them. Unless I hire a brunch of monkeys. LOL
Any one needs a kitten????
Sandy
Plantladylin: Going back to FL after we get back to AR from this California/Arizona trip and I recover from this horrendous cold I picked up at our granddaughter's birthday the end of August in Illinois. The next time your epi blooms, cut one of the blooms, and wrap the stem in a damp paper towel and place in a tupperware or other sort of container and put in the refrigerator. I did this for the last ones which fortunately bloomed the night before I had ladies over for lunch. (See your previous thread). I took them out just before everyone arrived and floated them in a bowl for each table. As an experiment I cut two blooms when it bloomed on the second flush and kept them in an inverted plastic cake keeper in the refrig for about a week. The cake keeper retained their fragrance for several days after I took them out and I hesitated to wash it -- sort of like refusing to wash your face or your hands after some famous person has kissed you or shaken your hand ROFLOL! Once in awhile I would sniff the cake keeper. I have sinus problems, too, but managed to get them cleared up enough to enjoy their wonderful fragrance.
LOL Sandy, I guess you could inquire at the Jax zoo and ask if they have any banana peels left over from the monkey exhibits. Or do monkeys eat the peel and all?? ^_^
I keep saying I'm going to get a food processor for kitchen purposes, but it would also be perfect for chopping up banana peels to sprinkle around different plants!
Uh oh ... ya found a kitten? Or did it find you, LOL? We are down to one cat now (from 5). All of our old gal's are slowly going to kitty heaven. The one remaining was my Mom's cat who we inherited when my mom passed away almost 5 years ago. Her name is Princess and it should have been Queen ... she is 15 years old and queen of the house, and she doesn't like other cats. I've been thinking about trying to adopt a dog because we haven't had dogs in a long time and really miss it. But, I don't know how she'd take to a dog either. Hope you find a good home for the kitten.
Jean: sorry about you being down with a dreaded cold! Ugh, that is no fun. :( I hope you feel better soon!
Thanks for that tip about refrigerating the Epi blooms! What a great idea. I'm going to try it if I ever get my plant to bloom again!
LOL ... I would probably do the same thing and refuse to wash the container if it still had the wonderful fragrance!
I have a unused food processor could bring it down to you only thing it comes with a tiny, male gray kitten. I would even through in some other epi cuttin, and some cat food..
Sandy
Ooops, too late Sandy ... I'm heading out the door to buy a food processor right now! ^_^
Oh come on he is very sweet. And you would get some free cuttings.
Sandy
Hi everyone, I have been away to NE Tennessee for a mini-vacation. DH took these pictures to share, I'll post for all to enjoy. These actually bloomed on 9/9/09:
I haven't fertilized these with anything but a bannana's peel now and then through the growing season. This is my second year with this lovely plant. And I'm absolutely thrilled.
Here is another one editted to brighten the pix for better visibility:
What beautiful blooms. Worth the wait.
Thanks TM. :-)
Way to go, Lily!!!!! Your flowers are absolutely georgeous. Well worth the wait but I was getting a bit antsy. Sorry we can't share the wonderful fragrance of these flowers with all the epi lovers.
Jean
Hello Jean, I agreed. DH said that the fragrant was wonderful early on the evening even before the blooms were full open! They're unique a flower!
I've more buds .... will post more pix later. ^_^
But before I share the buds of my Epi. Oxy. Here is a new one. Perhaps a 'Hookery'? I missed its first flower. I saw the spent flower, but there are several more coming, this is one of the bigger one. Woohooo!!!
Here come the next wave of my Epiphyllium Oxy. buds. The cool temp. of the coming Autumn seems to have triggered the buds formation?
Lily:From the stems on the one in your photo at 4:59 p.m. it does look like it may be E. hookeri.
Wow, look at all the buds on your oxypetalum ... hope you catch those gorgeous blooms!
Cool temps of coming Autumn?? Could you share some of those cooler temp's with me? I'm wondering if we will even have an autumn here, sometimes it misses us and oh how I'd love some cooler temp's ... I'd even settle for upper 70's to around 80º!
We've an unusual mild summer this year, and lot more rain than we've had in years past. I took a trip to NE Tenn. last week. It was even more breezier and cool there up in the mountain. You'd have loved it there.
Planladylin. Thanks for the hookerii confirmation. I can't wait to see more blooms.
Lily: Where did you go in NE Tennessee? My DH and I used to vacation in the Smokies at least once a year but haven't had a chance to get up that way in a couple of years now, and I miss the mountains! I always feel like I've come "Home" when we are up there ... such a gorgeous place: http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&q=images+of+great+smoky+mountains+national+park&um=1&ie=UTF-8&ei=u-qwSqCwM4Gltgel3OikCA&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&ct=title&resnum=1
That is an Awesome photo of the Gulf Frittilary Buttefly, you really should consider uploading it to Bug Files if you haven't already done so! http://davesgarden.com/guides/bf/go/9/
Lilly & Plantladylin: Finally got home from our Illinois, California and Arizona trip and found 3 spent blooms on my Queen of the Night, HOWEVER -- two more buds were beginning to open. Was too tired to stay up to watch the whole show, but did get a couple of pictures.
These were taken at 7:45 p.m. before "crashing."
Dragged myself out of bed at 2:00 a.m. and took these two pictures, after which I cut the blooms off and put them in the refrigerator and went back to bed!
This is the fourth time these two plants have bloomed this year. Eating bananas again to feed them! It must be working....
A beautiful bloom.
Welcome home to Florida Jean! Hope you are feeling better and over your cold. What a lovely homecoming bloom your oxy gave you! My big plant is sitting out on the back driveway, it's gotten way too much direct sun and something has been chewing at it for the past couple of months ... I think Wren/Sandy said it was army worms? I really need to mix up a batch of BATS for a few things. I used it on a couple of Hoya plants that are having aphid problems. I have a bunch of odds and ends plants out on the driveway in the back of the house and the neighbors have a very large Hackberry tree that shades everything somewhat. The tree is dropping leaves everywhere. It's a nice shade tree but first to lose it's foliage late summer and earliest to re-sprout in spring time. It seems like I'm raking up leaves every day and there's just something weird and not right about having to rake leaves in 90º+ heat!! I don't know what's going on but all of the plants out under that tree canopy are covered in a black mildew. I really need to do something and I hate using chemicals but sometimes it just has to be done.
Hey Lily: You could send a bit of those cool autumn temp's down this way ... not too much mind you, just enough to keep the temp's @75º would be great! ^_^
Plantladylin: Seem to be over the cold. Thanks for asking. Going from the cool, damp weather in IL to the hot weather in CA and AZ doesn't help with the allergies, either. Not quite back to FL -- this bloomer is in AR. Can't tell you what mine in FL is doing, but we will be leaving for there soon, as we need to get back and check on everything -- probably will have a hard time finding the house since it has been several months. The plant that is in FL is outside so heaven knows what we will find when we get back. It did bloom last September when we were there. Hopefully, the critters have left it alone.
Let us know what it looks like when you get back! This is the worst year I can ever remember for bugs around here ... maybe you will be luckier in your neck of the woods!
