Queen of the Night: 17 flowers

[nachtkrabb]

Tonight my Queen of the Night (Sel. grandiflora donkelaari) declared to be a tropical summer night and so she opened most her flowers.
Have a look!
I am greatful & speachless as usual.
Nachtkrabb.

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[nachtkrabb]

In the morning, about 8:30: It looks like the picture of a hangover to me.
Besides it's been 19 (nineteen) flowers last night, not 17.

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[majcka]

Goodness gratious...this realyy is a QUEEN!

[DaveW]

Beautiful show of flowers. Nice when you have the room to devote to the plant. They can take up a lot of room in a greenhouse. Even nicer if you have the climate to grow them outdoors and room is not so much a problem.

[hablu]

Congrats Ruth; you certainly have the feeling for this plant.
greets Harry

[nachtkrabb]

Thank you, Majcka, DaveW and Hablu!

Yes, I am grateful. Even more as tonight she opened up the next three flowers.

About the space: I simply take the space in our living room. This is very convenient: She resides in front of the window looking out. To look at the flowers all looking out of the window, we just walk out on the balkony and look into the window.

DaveW, have you one in a greenhouse? Or do you live in a convenient place to grow them outside?

Yours
Nachtkrabb

[Yamyoo]

I was blown away. It blooms so majestic I must say. How does the flower smells?

[DaveW]

I have a few plants sent to me as Selenicereus, but mostly small ones and not sure they are correctly named. I have this one that looks beat up but flowers every year on stems only around one meter long in a 15cm pot with just a couple of stems on it.

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I used to grow this one with the roots in my centre bed and a single stem trained up into the greenhouse roof which flowered regularly but died off at the root for some reason. It came as S. grandiflorus but obviously is not unless as seems common now you lump many other names under S. grandiflorus.

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No we are too cold to grow them outside in Nottingham UK, though both the above came through the winter in a cold greenhouse.

[Yamyoo]

Those are also amazing, Dave. Does it blooms a lot and how long does the flower last?

[DaveW]

About once a year and flowers last a couple of days. I suppose it depends on temperature. Nocturnal flowers tend to last longer in cool sunless UK than they would in your warmer countries.

[nachtkrabb]

Hi, Yamyoo,

the flower of my plant smells of a mixture of cocoa and vanilla. It is not as with a rose where you put you nose in and inhale and enjoy. The smell invades the surrounding. A friend came in to see the bloom and asked if I had meked a cake!

Hi Dave,

Your plants are lovely, too! I do like them. Do the flowers smell? (How?)

I have just seen that you are in the UK: Would you like some cutlings of my plants (after the flowering is over)? I have to cut them down and hate to throw the cutlings away.

Nachtkrabb.

[Yamyoo]

That's awesome! I think it's also a good idea to have this lined pot on a wall covering the space and let them hang. A wall full of this cactus like a curtain flowering and giving pleasant scent. I might do that soon.


Photo credit: edubay.co

[DaveW]

Not noticed the smell Nachtkrabb, but only saw the flowers next day.

We were talking about flower perfume at our cactus club a while ago and whilst some noticed a flower smelt others did not. Evidently flowers usually only put out their scent at certain times of day or night when their pollinators are around, not wasting their efforts when it is pointless to do so. Night flowering plants like your Selenicereus rely on perfume more than day flowering ones that often rely on colour to attract pollinators. Therefore whether you smell them can depend on what time of day or night you are around. With many primarily night flowering cacti (Echinopsis, Pygmaeocereus, Setiechinopsis etc) you may only notice the scent if you bring them into the house so as not to miss the flower at night, since by the next morning most of their scent may be gone.

See:-

https://www.realclearscience.com/journa ... night.html

https://www.scientificamerican.com/arti ... ave-scent/

Yes I would like a cutting thank you, if you want one off mine you can have one too.

[nachtkrabb]

Hallo, DaveW,
please pm me your address. I would love cutlings from your plants in exchange, but I simply can't take in anything more. They tend to grow so big here....
Nachtkrabb

[nachtkrabb]

Hi Yamyoo,
I think this wall is only good for very slow growing plants, or for small plants. Otherwise they grow over each other and one takes away the light of the other.
N.