Kaktusblüten V - Cactus Blossoms V

Sunday morning: Jump out of bed, hurry to the window, check on the cactus bloom, rush to get washed and dressed, forget about breakfast, grab the camera ... Total fascination - here we go again!

Good morning, the breakfast table is laid!

The news is spreading ...

 

 

Someone is right inside!

Just look at me!!!

 Emerging, covered in pollen.

 

Meanwhile I know the name of these cactus-blossom crazy insects: Hover flies, Schwebfliegen in German. Thank you for telling me, April (see comment to my blogpost "Blow the Whistle").

I had a hard time again selecting just a few photos for this post. My favourite is "Just look at me!!!". It  materialized quite by chance, I just took a hurried shot and hoped for the best.

Kaktusblüten IV - Cactus Blossoms IV

All of a sudden, and despite my rough treatment of the would-be third blossom, it started to grow out of the cactus like mad, at super-high speed. That was about three or four days ago. This time I wanted to take pictures of  the process of the blossom's opening. So I took the first photo last night (August 23):

The second picture shows the bud at noontime today:

Tonight I photographed in roughly 5-minute-intervals, from 19:55 to 20:38. I found it very difficult in the end to select pictures for my blog. I am posting the pictures in the order they were taken.

The show begins!

The top petals separate more slowly than the bottom ones.

Sitting among its plant fellows.

 Glory unfolding.

Celebration of beauty.

Good night. It was getting too dark to use the camera without flash.

About two hours later, when it was completely dark, the blossom had reached its full size. Tomorrow morning I will look out for its insect visitors.

The most amazing thing is that the blossoming cactus is programmed with an exact timetable. As far as I can judge, the duration of the blossom opening and the time when it opened complies with the first two blossoms precisely. What an awesome piece of life that is to watch!

Kaktusblüten III - Cactus Blossoms III

This is to continue the story of Cactus Blossoms I and II.

That's what was left of those glorious blooms on the evening of August 5, twenty-four hours after they had opened. During the following days, they wilted more and more, shrivelling and discolouring, until they fell down.

The silvery something next to the stems seemed to be another blossom wanting to develop, but there had been a standstill for some time, and nothing visible happened for more than a fortnight after the above picture had been taken. I had given up on it and even wriggled at the unsightly knob, expecting that it would fall off. But it didn't. In "Cactus Blossoms IV" I will tell you what became of it.

Kaktusblüten II - Cactus Blossoms II

I simply have to revert to yesterday's subject as I am so completely intrigued with these beauties. This morning the blossoms had numerous guests - whirring little insects coming for a meal, enjoying the exotic delicacy. I shot lots of photos and had difficulty to select some of them for the blog ...

seen from above - Draufsicht

Kaktusblüten die Zweite. Ob ich heute noch zu etwas Vernünftigem komme? Dauernd muss ich nachsehen, was sich an den Kaktusblüten tut. Bevor am Morgen die Sonne auf die Blüten schien, waren sie umschwirrt von hungrigen Insekten, alles eine Sorte, deren Namen ich aber genausowenig kenne wie den vom Kaktus. Jetzt, im vollen Sonnenschein, tut sich nichts. Mal sehen, wie es weitergeht.

Kaktusblüten I - Cactus Blossoms I

Unglaublich, wieviel Schönheit in so einer pieksigen, unscheinbaren Pflanze steckt! Ein ungefähr 15 cm hoher Kaktus, den ich vor einiger Zeit als klitzekleinen Ableger versuchsweise eingepflanzt hatte, hat seit heute Abend zwei wunderschöne, weiße Blüten. Den uralten Kaktus, von dem der Ableger stammt, habe ich nie blühen sehen. Die Blüten haben einen Durchmesser von ca. 8 cm und sitzen auf dicken, etwa 15 cm langen Stielen. Als ich heute Abend um halb acht nach Hause kam, waren die Knospen noch zu; um neun Uhr waren die Blüten voll geöffnet. Ein Wunder!

A cactus plant, still young and small, has developed two wonderful blossoms, over three inches in diameter, on thick stems which are about six inches long (about the same size as the cactus itself). When I returned home this evening, the buds were still closed, and within 1.1/2 hours the blossoms were fully developed. A miracle! I have no idea at all what this kind of cactus is called.