Queen Of The Night
I grow the climbing cactus Queen Of The Night (Epiphyllum oxypetalum) in our conservatory. Last year I had two plants, both about 10 feet tall. They had a record 135 blooms between them, appearing from 2nd May until the 1st November. The flowers are pure white and about 8 inches across. They are also very, very fragrant and scent the whole of the downstairs rooms. What makes the plant unusual is that it is night flowering. The flowers start to open around 6pm and take about two hours to become fully open. They last only one evening and are finished by the morning. This is a picture taken last year.
On 22nd May the first two flowers of 2008 appeared. The original two plants had got so big that I was forced to remove one at the end of last year and cut the other back - I do want to sit in there occasionally! There will be fewer flowers this year but I don’t mind as the plant will not take long to recover. These flowers are truly astounding, their short nocturnal lifespan making them seem even more ghostly and unreal.
Queen Of The Night is easy to grow and can be propagated from stem and leaf cuttings. It’s also known as Dutchman’s Pipe and Lady Of The Night and is native to parts of South America. Try it if you have the space.
13 comments
Wow ! … What a beautiful flower ! .. I haven’t heard of this one before .. an amazing plant .. no wonder you want to spend time with it .. I would too .. this type of thinking (evening bloomers .. now doesn’t THAT sound funny ?) .. is what I am doing with Moon Flower vine .. hopefully I will be able to enjoy some big white flowers with a wonderful scent too : )
I now know a new plant .. thanks “easy” !
Joy
Bother! I was going to say ‘Wow!’
And I too was going to say I hadn’t hear of this plant before.
(But Joy got there first!)
I wish I had space for one.
Apart from space - why doesn’t everyone have one?
(What are they like when they aren’t flowering?)
Esther
ESTHER IN THE GARDEN
Wow! See I don’t care repeating someone else’s comment when it’s so appropriate
Wow is very appropriate!
It’s so easy to grow for such an exotic flowering plant.
Esther - When not flowering it stands very quietly in the corner. Occasionally it throws out new long stems, and twice as many when it has been cut back. Just to show it’s annoyed
This flower is spectacular. I lived in Zambia for 16 years, and we had one growing outside the bedroom window. I have never known a perfume so beautiful. When one of the blooms was due to flower, we would sit outside and watch it opening. Where did you get it? I WANT ONE.
Pam - I was given it as a cutting years ago - which doesn’t help you in your quest to acquire it!
I would have thought a cactus or tropical plant nursery might sell it. Mind you I’ve never seen it on sale which is strange as it is so wonderful (though unless the nursery had 24hr opening you’d never see it flower).
Thanks for the reply. Guess I’ll just have to keep coming back to this site to have a look at yours. At the moment, I am trying to grow a “Flame Lily”, which is looking quite healthy at the moment. Just hoping it flowers.
Regards.
Those are stunning flowers. I shall have to suggest to SomeBeans that he may want to increase his household plant flock. I don’t think he’ll need much persuasion!
I have two of these, both about to flower. I brought my first plant back from Singapore in about 1960, but it grew so large, I had to leave it behind when I moved house a few years ago. In Singapore I was under the impression it was called a Kenwa. Has anyone else heard of it by this name? Do you have any suggestions re cultivation?
Keith - I’ve never heard of the name Kenwa. I grow it in a soiless compost, in a large pot. It seems to flourish without any special treatment other than having an occasional feed during the spring and summer. It does need space to grow tall as most of my flowers come at nearly 5 feet and above. Good luck with yours.
It is a truly spectacular plant and really easy to grow. If you’ve had and successfully grown - Phyllocactus/ Epiphyllum Ackermanii (Red or Pink flowers similar in character but not scented.) or the familiar zygocacti (Christmas/Easter flowering epiphytes) you will have no trouble with this gem.
Rather keen to ‘take over’ when it’s established! …. but save off-cuttings to root and grow. I had heard it referred to as Bunga Raja in the far East.
Kayjays - The Epiphylum Ackermannii looks very interesting particularly as the flowers open in the daytime. Lovely colour too. Might follow that one up!
Allow a slight callus, (dry pad), to form on cutting base of these to encourage root formation and deter rot. T achieve this, lay cuttings on a cool, dry tray of sand for one to two weeks before putting into pots of dampened compost. To imitate the atmosphere of epiphytes in nature, I cover each pot with a halved, inverted clear plastic water/pop bottle and place on a warm but not sun-scorched window sill. Little more attention is required and 85% success is virtually certain!
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