As it’s happening once a year since few years, a couple of nights ago my cactus, that’s something like 8 years old, flowered and three big and wonderful flowers exploded.
You can see one of them just below: they are big (diameter of about 20 cm) white on the front and pink on the back: don’t you think they are very nice?
Let’s tell the story of this cactus: in 2003 when I was working for a bank in Rome my friend Carlo, who was working for the bank, gave me as a present the top of his old cactus that was in his office: he was moving and, instead of thrashing the cactus, he cut the top of the plant (the first 10 cm) and gave it to me since I told him that I was looking for a plant for my flat.
I was sure that the short piece of cactus would never have survived such a raw treatment, and indeed for the first 2 years nothing happened: it was standing still! I thought it was dead, but I didn’t through it away because it still was green…
Suddenly, when I moved from Rome to the north of Italy in 2005, the cactus began to grow at a fast pace (even half a meter each year) and now it is taller then me!
Furthermore, since three years every summer (in july or august) it flowers!
Flowers last no more than one day, after which they wither and, after other few days, they detach from the plant and fall down together with their supporting arm.
Please take a look to the short gallery of pictures below: I hope you like it.
Ciao
Post scriptum: all pictures are taken with my N900.
The top of the cactus and two flowers
The three flowers
Detail of cactus flower
The cactus flowers (rear view)
Another view of a cactus flower
The cactus and his flowers
The whole cactus with withered flowers the morning after
VarieCose 