Accidental Blogger

This post is a cut & paste transfer from Facebook where I have been recording the unusual but surprisingly beautiful progress of a cactus plant. Readers who are on my FB list of "friends" may have already seen it. Click on the images for an enlarged view.

I have had several cactus plants for years – indoors and outdoors. Some on my sunny back porch bloom from time to time . For the first time, an indoors one is sporting a bright flower. Could it be because I placed this one near a large frosted glass window which gets a lot of light?

But what are those two fuzzy growths… on the two sides forming an isosceles triangle with the flower? Are they future blooms? They grew in the past couple of weeks. I don't remember the pink flower sprouting something like this prior to blossoming. Or perhaps I didn't notice.

Within just one week, the cactus has gone from sporting a small pink flower, two symmetrical side burns, a rapidly growing bud on a stem, to a large white bloom!

The changes were visible to the naked eye almost by the hour. It was like watching time lapse photography. I have never seen a cactus do this. Has anyone?

The photos chronicle the changes from start to finish, starting last Sunday..…

The white flower on the long stem is completely different in its look, color, shape and texture from the little pink one that had bloomed close to the cactus bulb. This one is as big as the body of the parent cactus.