Thursday, August 13, 2009

The Afternoon After...

The beautiful night blooms never last..by mid-afternoon they have closed up tight and are on their way to wilting into stiff sticks that generally stay on the plant until the very base part fattens up into a nice little fruit. The ants and birds then take over, breaking the fruit open and gobbling up the insides. Here are a few "Afternoon After" pictures.

In this last picture you can also see the 1 bud that didn't open with the others, starting to open up, getting ready for her solo debut.



5 comments:

Claude said...

My night bloomer looks like it'll be opening tomorrow night...

Nancy in Sun Lakes AZ said...

Hi Dee,
What kind of sun exposure are the plants in your last picture in?

kesslerdee said...

Hope you took pictures Claude.
Nancy- I've moved all my potted plants/cacti in front of my house under the big olive tree. So they are facing West but are in dappled shade most of the day. When the sun sets late afternoon they get a good shot of direct sun, but thats the only time. They seem to be doing pretty well there, but I am already wondering what I'll do with them this winter. They are not in the best place for covering them on cold nights where they are.

kesslerdee said...

Nancy- They also get non-stop olive leaf debris dropped into them but I put up with that as a trade-off for the shade.

Nancy in Sun Lakes AZ said...

I thought they look like they are in a happy spot! I've had the same situation with plants under palo verde trees. It's a great spot for them with dappled shade, but the plants get covered with debris! I find it so difficult in my yard to get the right amount of sun without frying the plants, even cacti. Believe me, I've had fried cacti!!!