Two years ago a very generous neighbor of mine gave me the starts to some plants. They were a pencil cactus plant, a variety of a snake plant and a type of cactus I wasn't familiar with. At some point I posted photos of these on Facebook. I heard from my uncle Jeff telling me that this type of cactus blooms. It hadn't up to this point so I thought conditions must have to be perfect for that to happen. He told me not to water it all winter and it would blossom, but be aware it doesn't smell good. I waited all summer and it grew well but I didn't see any buds. Then it happened. On October 14 I was looking out the window as I often do. I had recently brought the plants inside because we were expecting frost. I did a double take because there were buds on the plant. If you look carefully, you can see two buds. I am not sure how long they had been there, but I was excited to see them.
I had no idea what the blooms would look like or how long it would take. I researched the plant. This is what I found. It is a Carrion plant from the species Stapelia gigantea from the genus Stapelia. That meant nothing to me but then I read they are also called corpse flowers or stinking flower not to be confused with the gigantic African corpse flower. Now I understood the warning about the smell. It is actually a spine-free succulent, and it isn't a cactus at all. I waited and waited. Every day the blossoms got a little larger. Two weeks from the day I discovered the buds they were larger than a golf ball and slightly smaller than a tennis ball. They were quite large for the size of the plant and looked a little like a balloon.
I went away for a few days. I was sure it would blossom while I was gone, but when I got home everything looked the same. Patiently I waited. Every morning and evening I checked for clues. Then 30 days from when I spotted the first sign of a bud, I saw a crack in one of the buds.
At this point I set up the time lapse feature from my cell phone camera. A short time later, I captured this happening.
As I watched both blossoms eventually opened. One by one the petals popped open. They actually made a popping sound. They are so beautiful.
It has been an exciting day. I don't know how long the blossoms will last. My barrel cactus blossoms last only one day. These flowers already look like they are fading. I only hope I don't get any visitors for a while. They will surely think I have a dead body hidden in the basement. The blooms are pretty but they do smell like rotten hamburger. I only hope it dissipates quickly.
My other plants have also done well. The pencil cactus has grown very quickly and is interesting. It only has very tiny leaves. Apparently it is quite toxic which I didn’t know. I don’t have small children and pets so I’m not really worried, however it’s good to be aware. The plant is really large and will need to be trimmed back eventually.
The other was a variety of the snake plant. I'm sure it has a scientific name but it's just a shorter version of the snake plant.
Next summer they will all return to the outdoors. Maybe if I am lucky the Carrion plant will bloom again and the other plants will flourish.
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