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Posts tagged ‘arizona queen of the night’

Jul 19

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Dehydrated Queen

Unfortunately, my suspicion regarding the buds on the Arizona Queen of the Night being dehydrated was correct. My friend Joni and I went out first thing this morning and although the buds were still there, some were already detached and when the plant was bumped slightly, the rest fell off. Thankfully, the plant is really healthy so there’s always next year!

Jun 29

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Checking on the Queen

I checked on the Arizona Queen of the Night this morning and there is only a very slight increase in the size of the flower buds. From the information I’ve been reading, it seems a little late for them to be blooming but this has been a strange year. Unfortunately, I have a couple of trips coming up so I will probably miss the event 🙁

Jun 22

Peniocereus greggii

Arizona Queen of the Night is our most illusive flowering cactus. The majority of the time, it looks like dead sticks so they are almost impossible to spot. During my many hikes and also while surveying flora in the McDowell Sonoran Preserve , I have found several specimens. It’s been extremely dry so a portion of this one has already become dehydrated but, as you can see, there are several buds so I’m hopeful. Although they start blooming at night, the flowers can last til early morning as evidenced by a friend who captured one during the early morning at Tohono Chul Park in Tucson.
CLICK HERE to watch a video from there.

 

Mar 8

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A Search For a Queen

Arizona Queen of the Night is very common in our area but extremely difficult to spot. It looks like a stick or dead branch, doesn’t it? Click the link at the beginning of this post to see the amazing flowers this unassuming cactus produces! I’ve been wanting to find one on the future Marcus Landslide trail so Chris and I went out on there yesterday morning with a goal of locating one. Two and a half hours of searching and success! (NOTE: finding one in the open is not typical. They prefer the support of a shrub like a Creosote but a 1995 fire destroyed almost everything). Anyway….I was excited but also disappointed because it wasn’t easily accessible (at least until the trail is done). It’s OK, though, because where there’s one, there are more so the search goes on. I welcome the challenge 🙂