My large Ric Rac cactus is in bud and bloom. Since it's a nocturnal bloomer I missed the first two flowers ... gotta remember to get the flashlight and go out tonight to see if I can catch an open bloom and smell the fragrance! Year before last this plant was covered in blooms, scenting the entire back patio area ... last year it didn't even set one bud!

Ohh..the anticipation! I hope you catch it in bloom..would really like to see it!

I've had this plant for years and for a very long time I didn't know what kind of cactus it was or that it was a night bloomer. Someone on DG identified it for me a few years ago when I posted a pic of a spent bloom. LOL, I thought it was a fungus or something. I now remember to watch for those thorny buds in April/May and I keep a flashlight handy so I can go outside and take pictures when they open!

Hi, Lin. I'm the DGer that told you that the fungusy thing you were seeing was the wilted flower and that you had missed the show the night before. Before that I didn't even know that they bloomed. But noticed the wilted blossom looked like my night blooming cereus' wilted blooms. So I googled it and made a comment to your post. I'm still waiting for mine to bloom. It's not as huge as yours and I have not been taking good care of it. But now that I see the photo of your blooms, it's a reminder that I need to get back on track and feed that plant.

I lost my NBC several years ago due to a serious illness. I do miss seeing it bloom and the wonderful fragrance. The first time it bloomed, I went out several times during the night to take photos. I was so excited, I woke up and dragged DH outside a couple of times that night to photograph & watch the show. The next year, I got smart and brought the plant in the house the night it bloomed and took a round of photos. I need to find those photos. It's a fun process. Yes, do take photos and enjoy the blooms.

Hi Deebie! Thank you again for the ID of my cactus!

I don't much like thorny/spiny plants but keep this one around just because I love the blooms and the fragrance! I also have a very small Epiphyllum Orchid Cactus called Fruhlingsgold (from a cutting that I rec'd in trade on DG) that bloomed a few weeks ago for the first time, one single bloom! I had another Epiphyllum (E. hookeri) that I planted in the ground at our other house ... next time I talk to our tenants I will have to ask them if they've noticed it blooming. My large E. oxypetalum had a single flower night before last ... missed it though; I noticed the spent bloom when I went to fill the bird feeders yesterday morning. We've been busy the past two weeks and haven't spent time out on our back porch in the evenings or at night.

Lin, you've encouraged me to take better care of mine. I cleaned it up and fed it yesterday. I'd already put it outdoors under a tree. We've been getting so much rain that I decided to take the hanging basket down and drilled holes in it for draining. I'd been turning the pots on their sides so that they could dry out. I drilled right through the saucer because the basket just doesn't look good without it. I keep my ric rack plant in my garage along with my neglected oxypetalum (which I also trimmed up and fed yesterday) during the winter months. So it's not like I have to worry about water dripping on the floor. My oxy buds failed to open & just wilted last fall, because I brought it in too soon & also forgot to mark the side facing the sun. We had a short & miserably wet fall, so the plant was going through a lot at that time. Hopefully things with be better this year. I will put it under the roof overhand before the fall rains, and wait until bloom night to bring it in for the show. Happy Blooms!

I'm sometimes a very bad plant caretaker! My Ric Rac cactus looks pretty bad ... it was getting way too much direct sun which faded it out and it's been in the same pot for years; there's no soil left in the pot, only roots! I really need to get it into a new container with some good compost and maybe next year it will flourish. It blooms for me only once a year, in the April/May timeframe.

Lin I've heard that these need to be really potbound to bloom, so in that sense you're doing the right thing! And it looks great!

Okay. Maybe in the next year or so, mine will be able to bloom.

Keep them in a small, deep pot is what I've heard...I only know people that have had success, mine all look really really healthy, and have lots of room because I keep "Meaning" to repot them! So far, 2 years, and no blooms! So I know I have them in too large a pot!