One Night Only

This beautiful intoxicating flower is one of my favorites. The night blooming Cereus (pronounced like "serious"). A type of tuberous cacti. When healthy, this plant has several flowers that will start to develop  near late spring through early summer. Each flower will bloom for only one night! These past two nights are the beginning of many special nights to come. If we go out to dinner, we arrive home greeted by the strong sweet smell of these giant flowers. They are about 9" in diameter. Each stalk is covered with flowers that will all bloom on different nights. Sometimes I like to sit on my porch with a hot beverage and seriously enjoy the Cereus!
I put a side by side photo below of Monday night flowers and Tuesday night flowers. You'll notice the photo on the left has two flowers that are not open on the right. The photo on the right is of those closed two flowers "open". You can kind of see the flowers wilting in the background from the night before. I find them spectacular and breathtaking! They give me a big smile every time.  
I've attached a quick time lapse video I found. Enjoy. :D