Night Blooming Cereus and Pure Turquoise

We had a HUGE "crop" of Night Blooming Cereus bloom in our front yard last night. I don't think we've ever had that many bloom all at one time. These exquisite flowers are also known as the "Queen of the Night" and each flower blooms one time for just one night. They begin blooming around 8:00 pm, then by midnight they are in full bloom ~ however, by morning (daybreak) they close back up. I guess that's part of the intriguing aspect pertaining to this Flower ~ the bloom only lasts about 12 hours.

The Blooms covered the trunks on four of our Palm Trees in the Front Yard. I took at least 100 pictures and had a difficult time narrowing them down to just a few to share with you. Actually, about half of my pictures were out of focus or off center.

This is a closeup of three blooms together. The Night Blooming Cereus is a member of the Cactus family and is extremely low maintenance. The only known prediator is the gasoline powered Weed Eater. We finally put mulch and garden areas around the Palm Trees where our Night Blooming Cereus live. Our constant cries of "please don't weed eat around the Trees" was falling on deaf ears (that has been our one and only complaint with our lawn service).

Many years ago, a lot of the houses on our lengthy street had these unique Catcus in their Yards and now there are only a few left. We've been fortunate that our Night Blooming Cereus are still thriving and appear quite healthy. Sadly ~ we lost ALL of our Sago Palms last year.

Some people think that part of the inner bloom looks like Baby Jesus lying in the Manger. It's really hard to tell from this picture ~ but when you look closely you can see the outline of the Manger in the middle of the bloom.

Another close up view of some of the Blooms.

Can you see the Moon in the center of this picture? This picture didn't turn out exactly as I had hoped ~ but still an interesting shot.

I used the Zoom feature on my Camera to get the Moon a little closer ~ even though I didn't think it would make a difference. Well, at least now you can kind of tell that it's the Moon with a side/back view of the Night Blooming Cereus.

Legend has it ~ back in the late 1800's ~ they would have elaborate "Lawn Parties" to watch the Night Blooming Cereus bloom. They would stay up all night and enjoy this rare and spectacular site until Dawn. Of course, there would be tons of food and probably lots of wine. They really didn't need too much wine ~ the sweet fragrance is so strong ~ it makes your head swim. Somebody should really try and bottle this stuff ~ it would make quite an exotic perfume.

I received this "Romantic Lovers" Hang Tag today from Jen over at Artful Dreamer . Since I have had Victorian Lawn Parties on my mind ~ thought it would be appropriate to feature it on my Blog. I'm so thrilled with this latest design from her Vintage Romance collection!! It has layers and layers of ribbons, flowers, buttons, vintage paper, etc. Isn't it absolutely Gorgeous? Jen is so talented and has so many fabulous designs ~ hop over to here to check out her newly designed TDF website. I also enjoy visiting her lovely Blog ~ hop over here to check it out.

Below is a really short 40 second Video that I found on Youtube which is of a Night Blooming Cereus. It is a time lapse video ~ featuring 12 hours with 750 frames in 40 seconds.

This is the relatively new fragrance by Ralph Lauren ~ Pure Turquoise. I LOVE this photo from the polo.com website ~ don't you? Guess you're wondering what the fragrance Pure Turquoise has to do with this Blog Posting? Well ~ I was so surprised to find out that somebody HAS bottled that sweet "fragrant" Night Blooming Cereus. None other than my favorite designer ~ Ralph Lauren!!!

Here is the description from the polo.com website:

An exotic floral mystery of dewy cassis, night blooming cereus and earthen patchouli. Discover the beauty, the mystery, the magic of Pure Turquoise.

Maybe there are other Perfumes on the Market that have Night Blooming Cereus as an ingredient. The scent is rather unique and quite overwhelming ~ a little goes a long way ~ less is more.

I love the "packaging" with the Turquoise on top as the bottle cap and it's only a mere $350.00 for one oz. I think I'd rather wear Pure Turquoise Jewels than the Pure Turquoise Fragrance.

This is the Stunning Turquoise Necklace that I just purchased from Chicks from the Sticks Jewelry website. I would definitely choose to wear this type of Pure Turquoise rather than the fragrance entitled "Pure Turquoise" ~ especially since a Necklace will last forever.

They have so many trendy and colorful designs!! Just hop right over here to see all of their unique Jewelry. They also have a TDF website which was also designed by Trudy over at Wild Oak Design.

This is another one of their designs and it was just added to their website. I love Red Coral and Turquoise together ~ it looks so fresh and vibrant. Hop right here to purchase this elegant design.

They have quite a few multi-colored designs ~ which are perfect because they're fun to wear and they "go with" everything in your closet. To purchase the design featured above ~ hop right here. Hurry on over and visit the Chicks from the Sticks today ~ their designs are selling out fast!!