Night Blooming Cactus: A Flower Of Beauty

Gardeners relish one primary thought: beauty. After toiling in a garden, there is a reward.Those who love gardening know that a thing of beauty is a joy forever. Every garden has an artistic flair. The gardener is the artisan; and the allotted space is the canvas. Thought precedes a garden as each plant is assigned a designated spot. Sometimes the choice of seeds provides an unexpected delight. While a packet of flower seeds may tell one what to expect inside, it cannot determine the ultimate floral arrangement of beauty. This proved to be a fact with carnations. They seemed to arrange themselves. But then, the Master Artist enhances the joy and beauty.

Cactus lovers see the cactus from a different perspective. Most individuals view it as a desert plant and scarcely imagine that it will ever bloom and flaunt its beauty. Many cactuses are planted beneath a window as a security measure. Few intruders dare to brave its needles. Some naturalist cultivate the cactus to use as shampoo and conditioner. What many Bahamians call scourger needle looks like a bunny cactus. When the gel inside is applied to the hair, the pleasant results exceeds commercial shampoo and conditioners. It is free of processing chemical. The same is true of the aloe,its relative which some native Bahamians use in a variety of ways.

Acquiring plants in a garden has several aspects. One can visit a nursery or store and purchase the seeds or plants. Find a plant you like,get a clipping and sprout it in water,then plant it. Uproot a plant and replant it in another location. The plant can be one that was started as a seedling. However,some plants grow alongside the road or in the wild and natural state. An example of such a plant is the Bahamian bromiliad, an air plant that is akin to the pineapple. The night blooming cactus was found in the wild too.Its first bloom created an exciting experience for this author.

"Did you see the flower by the side of the house?" my brother asked.

"Which flower?" I wondered. We had been waiting for the green gladiolus to bloom; and we were uncertain if the bromiliad was a flowering or nonflowering plant. All the other gladiolus had flowered; but then, they were not on the side of the house. They stood tall and proud as sentinels under my Mom's bedroom window. Did he mean the crepe myrtle? No. He knew that the crepe myrtle was spreading under the bedroom window and needed his attention. My burning question was now a conflagration!

"Please show it to me," I begged.

"It might be dead by now," he added.

Dead by now? What kind of flower was that to die during the day when most flowers were blooming and fresh?

"Dead? I retorted." What kind of flower is that?"

"Come see for yourself since you don't believe I know what I am talking about. This flower blooms in the night..."

"Blooms in the night?" I interrupted. I had to see that flower!

My brother led me to the fence in the area of the pitcher crank pump. There I saw a gigantic, drooping ,white flower. At least it seemed huge to me. How could I have missed such a momentous event?

"Remember when I told you the plant was trying to come into the kitchen? Well, this is the same plant," he continued.

"Has it ever bloomed before now?" I inquired.

"No, this is the first time.," he replied.

"When will it bloom again?" I asked curiously.

My brother flashed me a mischievous smile, then he became serious.

"I really do not know. Maybe it will bloom again on another blue moon!"

Another blue moon? Crestfallen, I made my way to the porch to find a comfortable chair. A blue moon? How long is a blue moon? The thought of waiting for a blue moon sent me reeling. Then, happiness enveloped me. It was August 19 and the first anniversary of my father's death. That flower was no coincidence! Daddy loved plants though he preferred the edible ones. He knew that his dear wife loved flowers.Thus, we always kept flowering plants for her. She told us constantly of how one suitor sent her a dozen radiant roses every day from his mother's garden.The suitor's mother loved her too and looked forward to having her as daughter. But Daddy had won her heart and her hand in marriage - a marriage that lasted almost six decades until death parted them.What could I do to ensure that there would be more night blooming cactus flowers?

A blue moon is a very long time- figuratively speaking; so in childlike simplicity, I spoke to the Creator and asked him to shorten the period! The night blooming cactus, which had not bloomed in twenty years continued to try to enter the kitchen and force its way into my bedroom. My brother had to redirect it and eventually cut it. It may have bloomed again but I did not notice it until after my mother died.

 When my aunt came for the funeral, the cactus had eight buds close together. Somebody picked one bud and placed it on a windowsill on the porch then later on a table. Of the eight buds, five became flowers. My Sony camera and a disposable camera recorded the first in a series of night blooming cactus photos.Every time it budded afterwards, I took photos, sometimes climbing a ladder and using a flashlight or a portable battery operated lantern. We took some photos with the moonlight as the only light source and a series using the patio light. My brother and I took hundreds of photos under varying lighting conditions. I wanted to capitalize on the blue moon flower!

When my brother found what looked like a fruit at the base of the flower, he suggested that I conduct research. The results proved interesting. Immediately I thought about my father who believed in alternative, namely bush or herbal medicine. This information encouraged me to smile. Daddy knew every bush and its use; and I knew that if he were alive, he would have been able to tell us about the medicinal benefits of the night blooming cactus without us having to consult the internet.

 Although I printed the information from the internet, my brother and I did not explore it further. The information had heightened our knowledge of cactus. Before long we had to shift our focus and concentrate on moving to a new locale- Crooked Island, a remote, hilly island with intriguing flora, wild life and beauty in the southeastern Bahamas.

While clearing an area for planting where we live now, my brother discovered a blue lizard. Since then, he has stumbled across a variety of differing specimens. His love for biology and farming makes nature a memorable adventure. I never know what he will find next.

 However, my observant brother and gardener stirred mycuriosity and creativity when he showed me the night blooming cactus- a blue moon flower.