Queen of the Night

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Call it a big night. 

Monarch butterfly chrysalises ready to emerge on the north side of the house and Grandma Pearl's Night-Blooming Cereus, a plant also known as the Queen of the Night (Epiphyllum oxypetalum), produced a double bloom on the south side of the house. 

Two ephemeral moments, so who could sleep?

The Queen is native to Southern Mexico and into South America. Mine is a plant that grew from cuttings from my Grandmother Pearl's plant, she had a fondness for unusual house plants. The cereus is a ceroid cacti that only blooms rarely. Each blossom is also only open a few hours one night and then it wilts. Either you are there to witness it, or you are not.  

Obviously, I parked myself in front of it with thoughts of my grandmother. 

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