Mom's old cactus

Last year my Mom was moving back to Ocala and in the move she decided to give us a cactus that she had actually had for many years. I remember it sitting in a pot on the deck since I was a little kid. Even with mom's black thumb, the cactus stayed alive. Well now it came to our house in the same little black pot it had always known for about 15 years or so.

As we got it home, it just seemed like it was begging to be transplanted. It needed more space, more nutrient rich dirt and just a good spot in the sun. So we did just that and waited... About a month or so ago, there was finally a bloom on the plant and it had shown significant growth. I could barely contain myself with getting to see the first bloom after so long. Sadly, the night it bloomed, I missed out.

Within the last week, Sam and I noticed the blooms coming in again! This morning he took Molly-dog (we just started to call her that instead of Marley) outside for her morning backyard stroll and came back in at about 10 minutes to 5 (yes... I was not happy....) telling me that I needed to get up to see something in the backyard.

Reluctantly, I dragged my half-asleep body out of bed. Sam told be to bring my phone... So I did. And just outside the slider from the Master Bedroom out by the pool, I understood all of sudden why it was so important!

These photos just don't do it justice! There were two large beautiful white blooms just soaking up the rays of the falling moon. The sky was clear and the air was still. The flowers were widely awake, even if I wasn't.

A quick glance around the yard and I also peeked the other backyard night bloomer: the goards.

The delicate vine has trellised nicely and has started to meander towards the rain barrell. Its delicate white flowers look like they are cut from the finest tissue paper and glued into place. Because of the night blooming, it's rare that I get to enjoy the flowers on this vine.

As I dragged myself back to the slider to crawl back in bed, the protector of the night gardens was enjoying his feast from thefloodlight buffet and poked his head out to let me know he had his eye on things.