Tonight's The Night

[greysrigging]

Apologies to Rod Stewart, check out the mass flowering on my Epiphyllum oxypetalum. I counted 39 blooms, with the majority flowering in the early hours this morning. Here in Darwin the flowerings are triggered by a large rainfall event, thunderstorms and monsoonal downpours. This is my 4th flowering event this season, so on track for the usual 7 flowerings during the 'Wet Season'.
5.30pm 

1.00am

[SailorBold]

Awesome..  im looking forward to cactus season here...( none tropical tho..) what kind of monsoon totals do you get each year?  

[greysrigging]

4 hours ago, SailorBold said:

Awesome..  im looking forward to cactus season here...( none tropical tho..) what kind of monsoon totals do you get each year?  

About 1800mm ( 71" ) per year on average but can be quite variable. The previous two 'Wets' were on the dryer side with only 1062mm ( 42" ) in 2019. In 2011 I had over 3000mm ( 120" ) !

[greysrigging]

The first mass flowering event of the season....44 blooms over two nights ! Epiphyllum oxypetalum ( Midnight Cactus )

[Manalto]

Really beautiful; thank you for posting. Does this species have a fragrance?

[greysrigging]

On 11/26/2021 at 9:29 AM, Manalto said:

Really beautiful; thank you for posting. Does this species have a fragrance?

Yes, very fragrant....the scent wafts up and down the street and throughout my yard.

[SHEP]

Do you know why they bloom at night?  I have a few and your pictures got me thinking?  Cecile

[Silas_Sancona]

16 minutes ago, SHEP said:

Do you know why they bloom at night?  I have a few and your pictures got me thinking?  Cecile

Bat and Nocturnal Moth pollinated..

[greysrigging]

Another mass flowering a coupla nights ago
 

[greysrigging]

The first big event ( as in 50+ blooms ) of the 2022-2023 wet season.

 

And here they are flowering nicely.....40+ blooms open and likely another dozen or so tomorrow night.

And,  may Isay it was a tad chilly out at 2.45am.... only 23.8c and a north westerly blowing.

These midnight cactus plants respond magnificently ( just like Leanyer residents ! ) to rain events, which trigger the flowering cycle. ( and reduces the whingeing cycle from Leanyer )

Typically my plant will experience 7 or 8 'blooming events' per year,

The first rains of the 'build up' in late September/early October promotes buds which usually takes 25 days to put on the displays as pictured.

So roughly one flower set per month between Oct and May.

During the 'build up', it's big thunderstorm downpours that gets a flower set underway, then once the monsoons arrive, the first big downpour does it too.

This plant is 35 years old, I brought it up from mothers place in Camden, NSW.

Although it gets a bit sunburnt in full sunshine, it will flower better than if grown in shade.