Late Night Bloomer   Bookseller cultivates a night-blooming cereus after hours…

Just a few days after her triple blooming in a sudden summer downpour, we noticed something sprouting once again. The rain was brief, but very much needed, and left tiny pearls on her petals. It was a hot and steamy evening, and the flower’s late night fragrance hung in the close air. Lines from a supermarket romance? Perhaps. The elements are all there. Add a flute of champagne; some strawberries in a bowl.  Friends were enthralled. We were fulfilled. This singular plant beguiling.

And she continues. The mother plant has issued a post script, perhaps. A bud now measuring three inches and swollen at the tip is healthy, full of promise, the plant expressing itself. Buds are sprouting once again on cuttings severed too soon. We’ve been through this before, but this time, one bud has persisted to three inches looking quite sturdy and also rounding at the tip. Other cuttings have again produced a series of budlets tiny just now, but with the advantage of weeks, and more developed root systems, we have hope. Once again.