Night flowering cactus

These flowers only last a night - they're from the desert and have a heady strong perfume to lure nocturnal insects.

This bloom opened fully about 11pm last night.

Thats quite a flower - did you have to wait up for it?

I was expecting it so knew to go out about ten. I can also smell it from inside despite there being two brick walls and a closed door between us.

Ours is a cutting from a plant that Edwina's parents were given. There are other plants around Sydney from the same source and they all flower on the same night. If you treat them kindly they'll have several batches of blooms but our more hands off approach means only a few flowers twice a year.