Beautiful blooms!! I'd frame a pic & put it on the wall! I have a strange stick thing that some of it looks pretty normal but then sometimes these strange looking long sticks about 1/8 in. thick with only 1 branch going off at some crazy angle,shows up. Right now it looks petty much like you glued 1 in. green toothpicks all over it. I got it from a friend as she said it was so weird so I planted it. It must like being close to house & somewhat shaded as it looks bushy 1st time in yrs. Maybe it will bloom. That would be a 1st. If I were you I would put 1 of those bloom pics in a frame so friends can see why you keep that "thing" around!! Calamity, use very little water on your epiphyllum . If it breaks off put that piece in shady area to dry out & stick in dirt when it has "healed" & you will get another 1. My white was last to bloom. GF has 2 gal or bigger pots & waters once a month & not too much. They did much better when I wasn't doing much out there so it is true! They are very expensive at nursery out here, a ft long 1 rooted about $12. or so. Jan

That's the problem I have here... no decent trees with limbs low enough to hang plants from in summer. I only have one... the French Pink Pussywillow shrub, which is actually more of a tree now. I've been pruning it to stay at a manageable size, and it now has some lower limbs that might be good for hanging a few plants on this coming summer. It's situated on the east side of a building, so it's sheltered nicely. I thought I'd summer over my orchids in its branches, and also some of my cacti type plants. My bulbs will either be staying indoors, or they'll come out if I can locate a fine mesh cloth to cover them with. I am not willing to share them with Narcissus Bulb Flies! By spring, I should have my indoor light situation fixed to my satisfaction. I'd love to take every plant I have outside for the nicer weather, but I just don't want to end up posting a horror story about destroyed bulbs! There have been too many posted already, and if nothing else, I've learned a thing or two about insect damage! Tomato cages are definitely within my budget, but I'm wondering if it would be worth it to purchase one of those gorgeous black wrought iron towers... the flowers of this night bloomer certainly deserve a special home! I look forward to seeing photos of your tree, complete with your Epiphyllum collection!

Dawn, you're more than welcome! You were one of the people who helped me have success with my first veggie garden a few years back (2009) & I'm honestly just in awe of your knowledge & experience. As far as I know from reading the threads of the forum, we live the closest to each other & if it wouldn't seem like a strange thing to offer, I'd love to come help you in your garden if you ever needed help. You seem to really know your stuff & be very interested in your plants, planted & native to your property alike, which I think is awesome. I'm always checking out interesting plants in my yard & in the woods around here on the refuge. I can only hope one day to be the expert that you certainly are. :) I had never seen the Lunas before, but they are very beautiful. My son finds them fascinating & my dogs try to catch them, LOL. I'm pleased to know there is an upside to the spikey balls from hell, besides the fall foliage show. The one in our new yard must be very old, it's so huge that I can't wrap my arms around the trunk & the roots wouldn't be that far exposed if it wasn't, I don't think. It's roots run the entire length of my house. I ran into some when I was hoeing out the side & back flowerbeds & was like "Wow, that's an impressive root system." I think that commelina would be an ideal cover for the shallow soil & I certainly know that it would grow tall enough to cover up those roots. My mom's goes crazy every year & she's already griping about it's height. Usually, she has her yard guys weedwhack it down several times a summer. I told her to let me do it this year & take the cuttings. I'm kinda wanting it to be semi-invasive, because the section I want it to take over is beneath that tree & also the other side of my front yard in the shade of the tree, which is all infested with sticker grass. I had ambitious plans to dig it all out by hand b/c I'd heard that's really the only way to get rid of it...until I realized that about 500,000 of them were scattered all over the whole yard & digging them up is no easy task. They have underground spreaders that break easily & each new place I broke has, within a week, sent up new spikes. Grrr. I've read that stickers don't do well at all with competition, so hopefully the commelina will outcompete & do what I want it to do. I figured I'd try it, anyway. What have I got to lose? It's all free, so no waste of money. This post was edited by faerybutterflye on Wed, May 1, 13 at 9:50

My mom had one like (or very similar to) your second variety with the flat leaves, when I was a child. I think she got it from my great grandmother. Mom had it for years & years before it ever bloomed. And OMG how excited she was. All the neighbors had to come over to look & oogle. It bloomed several times & quite prolifically after that first time when there were only 1 or 2 blossoms. I remember the fragrance was quite heavy and it had such a beautiful flower. The plant itself was rather ugly, large & unwieldy, having to be moved out/indoors with the changing seasons. None of us children was interested in taking it when my mom moved out of the house after dad died. So it was tossed. Your picture brought back good memories of my childhood. Thanks!