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.

Wonders in the night

I didn't catch any meteors last night, but I did catch some amazing cactus blooms! 5 flowers opened last night on my night blooming cactus. Here they are just starting to come open. Click on these pictures to get up close and personal with them just like the bugs do.

And a little later they were fully open- waiting for bugs and moths.

The scent these flowers give off rivals the best perfume. Lucky insects that get to roll around in that silky wonder!