“Cereus-ly” Worth the Wait for the Large Extraordinarily Fragrant Blossoms

The Night Blooming Cereus is a wonderful, mysteriously elegant perennial tropical succulent. Lady Cereus, also goes by numerous common names, including Queen of the Night, Christ in Manger, Dance of Night and Orchid Cactus.

Many cacti and desert plants have evolved to be night blooming plants in order to attract nocturnal pollinators such and bats. Nights are also cooler and thereby sparing the tender flower petals from the worse of the desert or tropical heat.

But this Cereus cactus, botanically known as Epiphyllum oxypetalum, has some unique properties that set it apart which we’ll get into in this article.

We haven’t grown this lovely lady-in-waiting ourselves yet, but several in our community are growing Night Blooming Cereus. They have shared their photos and experience with us and this article is written by a delighted Cereus owner, and also includes further well researched content from GardensAll editors.

Night Blooming Cereus

• SCIENTIFIC NAME: Epiphyllum oxypetalum
  • Phonetic Spelling – Ep-ih-FE-lum Ox-see-PET-al-um
  • Previous Scientific Names –
    • Cereus greggii
    • Cereus pottsii
  • Family: Cactaceae, cactus
• COMMON NAMES:
  • Christ in Manger
  • Dance of Night
  • Dutchman’s Pipe Cactus
  • Lady of the Night
  • Night-blooming Cereus
  • Orchid Cactus
  • Queen of the Night
• EDIBLE: Fruit
• FLOWERS:
  • Size – Large flowers, 6 inches minimum that bloom from the cladode leaves
  • Blooms – just one night per blossom after 4th year
  • Color – White with yellow centers
  • Fragrance – exceptional strong fragrance with hints of vanilla
  • Pollinators – bats
• LEAVES: Secondary stems called Cladodes
• GROWING:
  • Indoors with full indirect light or direct morning light
  • Outdoors in dappled light or full morning thus
  • Can grow indoors in pots in winter
  • Thrives outdoors in tropical climates
  • Can get leggy indoors in pots without enough light
• SIZE: 3 feet tall by 3 fee wide’ on average. Can grow up to 8 feet in ideal tropical environment in the ground.
• HARDINESS ZONES: 8-9
• ORIGIN – Native to the deserts, tropics and subtropics of the Americas
  • Greater Antilles
  • Central America
  • Mexico
  • South America
  • Southwestern US
• SOIL: Sandy; cactus potting soil
• WATER: Once weekly, depending on area conditions
• SUN: All day filtered, or direct morning sunlight
• TEMPERATURE RANGE: 50°F / 10°C – 100°F / 38°C – handles high heat in shade
• TYPE:
  • Perennial
  • Succulent

The Gift of a Night Blooming Cereus

Article by contributing writer, Sharon Hughes

After four years, this amazing night-blooming cereus plant my sister gave me finally bloomed. Once. Well, the first flower, that is. Now there’s a second bud beginning to blossom. It too, will give its all in one glorious night, until dawn.

The night blooming cereus is worth the wait.

The botanical name is epiphyllum oxypetalum or hylocereus undatus, and Night-blooming cereus is the most popular common name for this unusual flowering cactus. The large, tropical looking flower blooms at night and is wilted by the morning.

The exquisite blossom filled my home with an incredible fragrance reminiscent of vanilla.

Queen of the Night

Sometimes called Moon Flower or Queen of the Night, my sister got up in the night, so as not to miss hers blooming. She took pictures to show me, as I’m now doing for you.

I was enthralled with this plant and frequently asked her if it had bloomed again. She continued to periodically send me pictures when she was blessed with blooms.

Cereus Cactus Propagation from a Leaf

On a visit with my sister about four years ago, she gave me a leaf from the “mother plant”. I wrapped it in a damp paper towel, placed it in a plastic bag and padded it between clothing in my suitcase. Thankfully, it made the flight home to Colorado without damage.

You can propagate the cereus cactus from a leaf of the plant. The Queen of the Night cactus leaf is actually a a photosynthetic stem.
~GardensAll.com

I “stuck” the end of the fleshy stem into some potting soil, placed the pot near a window, and watered it once a week.

My sister told me it was easy to grow and to have patience waiting for it to produce a flower. One day it began to grow a stem. I continued to water it weekly and wait. Slowly, the stem grew taller and a new leaf sprouted.

Later, a stalk with soft “needles” began to grow very long and tall. As it grew longer it began to sprout a leaf here and there. I checked it often hoping for sight of a bud. However, not much else happened for a long time.

Growing Cereus requires patience.

Growing in the Skylight

We moved to a town home which had skylights. I placed the plant on a ledge under a skylight and continued to water it.

One day, I noticed another branch beginning to grow. I tried not to pay much attention to the plant other than watering it. It was hard to keep patient waiting for a bloom.

The branch, which resembled a thick vine with soft spikes, grew quite long. In fact, the branch was so long, it required a support. It reached toward the skylight and kept growing. As it was under a Caribou head mount, it began to bend to grow around the neck and reach toward the light. A couple leaves finally emerged. Yet, there was still no sign of a flower. At this point, the plant was two years old and I was beginning to wonder if it would ever flower.

A year later we moved to Albuquerque, NM. The moon flower, along with all of my other household plants, made their own, special trip in a U-Haul van. This first trip was strictly to bring my plants to the new house. The plants made the trip with no issues. However, my precious moon flower’s long branch had broken. I stuck it in the soil and didn’t worry.

A week later, we moved the entire household and took up residence in our new home. I placed my plants around the house, giving the moon flower its place in the breakfast nook on a bench in the center of a north-facing bay window. The plant was thriving well and producing more long branches and leaves, but still no flower. After approximately 3-1/2 years of growing and waiting, I decided that it didn’t matter if it ever flowered. I would be satisfied with the fact that it was a very interesting plant.

About six months ago I decided to repot a few of my plants. The moon flower was one of the chosen plants to receive a larger pot. Apparently, this made it quite happy as it continued to grow more of the interesting branches. The branches were beginning to resemble thick vines as they are 5-6 feet in length. These long branches required taller dowels to give them support. The leaves, which are large, flat, and thick/fleshy, sprout at varying places on the branches.

The Queen of the Night Flower

Then it happened. Two days ago I noticed a huge flower bud. I chided myself for not paying better attention to the plant as the beginning flower bud had likely begun a couple days before. I was surprised to discover how the flower grew.

The flower didn’t grow from a branch, but from the edge of a leaf.

Of course, I sent my sister a picture of what I had just found! She told me the flower would likely open completely by 10:00 that night. I kept vigil on my bud throughout the day. About 6:00 in the evening it began the process of opening. As the bloom opened, it began to fill the lower level of our house with its sweet fragrance.

The bud began to open at 6pm…
and was in full bloom by 10:00pm.

It was amazing to witness the blooming process. Of course, I took pictures at various times, sending them to my sister, my daughter, and my son. By 10:00 it had already begun to weaken and wilt just a bit. When I walked down the stairs this morning, I noticed there was still a faint scent of fragrance in the air. I reluctantly went to inspect the bloom and found it closed and hanging its head, its victory spent after a night showing its glory.

When does Night Blooming Cereus Bloom?

The Queen of the Night is a lady worth waiting for, and you will have to wait for her.

Night blooming cereus bloom only once a year at night sometime after their fourth year.

The Night Blooming Cereus plant typically blooms in summer, from May through October, at night (of course)!

My sister gave me a rooted cutting and informed me that her “mother plant” had seven blooms, and has had as many as ten. She still takes pictures of the buds and blooms. It was very special to have the opportunity to share my plant’s first bloom with my sister and the “mother plant”.

It was well worth the wait to experience this amazing wonder of nature first hand.

Research of the night-blooming cereus flower revealed that it is not uncommon for plants in the same geographical zone to bloom on the same night. Also, I was excited to learn that healthy plants can bloom three separate times throughout the warmest months.

The blooming of this magnificent plant is truly an experience to behold.

Healthy night blooming cereus can bloom three separate times throughout the warmest months.

Time Lapse of a Night Blooming Cereus, Queen of the Night

We searched time lapse videos of this beautiful and rare blossom opening, and are sharing one of the best of those here with you. The lighting, photos and video of this gorgeous flower in bloom are of professional quality, and it was one of the best of the video we viewed.

This timelapse video production of the night blooming Cereus starts out with beautiful photos before moving to the time lapse and includes informative captions as well.

Cereus Cactus Care

As stated, these night blooming cactus plants are easy to grow. They need partial sunlight and prefer a somewhat sandy soil.

Although I planted mine into regular potting soil and it seemed to do fine, a cactus potting soil works best. They need weekly watering, but the roots can rot quickly if over-watered, which won’t happen in a good cactus soil mix.

And who knows…? Mine might have bloomed sooner if it had been in the optimal soil from the beginning.

The night blooming Cereus is an easy growing cactus plant.

Night Blooming Cereus Can Grow Indoors and Out

The Cereus can grow year round outdoors in hardiness zones 10-11

While my plant is indoors, my sister’s has always been outside. Since she lives in League City, Texas (between Houston and Galveston), her plants don’t have to deal with the cold winters my plants would endure. The night-blooming cereus would not survive in the freezing temperatures that occur at night during the winters of New Mexico.

The plant can grow to be 12 feet and, therefore, require a good amount of space. I am assuming my plant will eventually wind up with its own little corner. It is currently sitting on a bench and is approximately 2 feet from the floor. The ceiling is 9 ft. One branch touches the ceiling. Two other branches have turned from the ceiling and have begun hanging down and curling towards the window.

In comparing pictures found in Wikipedia, this particular species appears to be common to India. Some cultures dry the flowers and use them in soups. The hylocereus species actually produces brightly colored, pleasant tasting fruits, popular in Australia, the Philippines, Vietnam, Taiwan and Hawaii.

Find more on this wonderful plant plus videos below. This concludes the portion contributed by writer, Sharon Hughes.

Thanks to contributing writer, Sharon Hughes:
A long time plant lover and relatively new gardener, Sharon Hughes, is a retired kindergarten teacher now living in Albuquerque, New Mexico with her husband and her many houseplants, some of which are over 39 years old! Artistically creative, Sharon is a published author of children’s books and an artist of beautiful handmade and hand painted garden flags.

You can visit Sharon’s garden flag Facebook page: Garden Patio Flags

You can see Sharon’s published books here on Amazon:
Caterpillar Kindness
Don’t Touch My Stuff

Cereus contributions from Planting for Retirement community members:

Another Cereus Night

Stefanie Rader:

“I have 9 blooms on mine. I brought the plant in the house last week and 3 bloomed last night. They are beautiful!”

Brandy Schwartz:

Brandy has also be selling her Cereus plant starts at a steal for $6 each as of 2019. For those interested in market gardening and/or a plant business, this is a special plant to consider growing.

For more on this wonderful flower, you may enjoy Brandy’s night blooming cereus videos below.

Night Blooming Cereus Begins Blooming – Part 1

Night Blooming Cereus in Full Bloom – Part 2

Blooming began around 9pm

It’s all over by 6:30 am. It was an enchanting night of beauty and fragrance to remember.

Queen of the Night Video in Bloom – Epiphyllum Oxypetalum

If you’re interested in the medicinal qualities of Night Blooming Cereus, you will enjoy this article by Chris Marano of Clear Path Herbals.

If you love flowers and purple, you’ll enjoy scrolling through this article as well.

Wishing you great gardens and healthy harvests.