A Second Chance

24 days ago I had a post about how I missed the first flower of my cactus. I was sad and kind of angry as well because I was waiting for 2 years for it to happen and when finally happened, I was not home to see it. And the most annoying thing was that I saw it's going to flower, but had to go away and could not take it with me. I was praying to find it open when I return, but all I got was a closed flower. The only consolation for me was the hope to see it flowering next year, but there's no guarantee next year there will be a flower and there's also no guarantee I'll be home that time next year.

But, there's always a but. The whole thing started months ago, like 3 or 4 months ago, when there was still cold outside and my plants were still inside. One day I noticed something, a small bump on the top of the cactus. It was small, strange as well and wasn't doing anything at all for a long time. After some time, this new bud I talked about in my previous post started to appear, which looked kind of the same, but was growing, not like the other. When I saw this new thing is going to be a flower, knew the other one was not as that should have been open a long time ago, and took my mind off it.

Then two days ago, while watering it I saw something has changed. The bump stated to grow and had hair on its head, so to speak. I knew I had to keep a close eye on it, if I wanted to see the flower, if it was a bud indeed. At some point I even brought the pot in my study, to keep a close eye on it while working, but in the morning I put it back out on the balcony as I thought sunlight would matter a lot. Flowers usually don't appreciate if they are disturbed during flowering.

Then this morning I saw this. Now please note, these are close-up photos, which means the bud appears way bigger than it was in reality.

At that point there was no doubt it's going to be a flower. Imagine my surprise and joy, to see a second flower, especially that this one started to grow way earlier than the other that was already done. It's hard to understand why as I see no logic in it at all, but I say thank you mother nature, for giving me another flower.

Lucky me, I was home all day, except for an hour, as I had to pick up a parcel. This photo was taken before I left home.

Look at it how tiny it was and so delicate!

When I got home, it was fully open already.

As I have no experience with this kind of cacti, the only chance I had was to take some photos and admire the flower till it lasted. I don't know how long it's going to be, but I suspect in the morning the flower will not be open anymore.

Funny thing, it has a little bit of scent as well, not something you can define though. It's like when you enter a flowers shop and there's that smell. It's nice though.

I really consider myself lucky and I'm grateful for being given another flower this year. I'm also aware that this is the last one of the year as cacti are not flowering all year round, you're lucky to get one flower, let alone two. It's still a mystery for me, how can this bud grow for so long, while the other appeared long after this one started to grow.

When I saw the flower, was thinking, I should buy more cacti as they are easy to maintain, to care for, especially in the summer, when these heat waves are persisting. At first it seemed like a good idea, but then I thought, if they start to flower, I would be either missing the flowers, or stay home for the whole summer to catch them open. I'd love to have a red one as well, but how do you know if the flower will be red or not? Big dilemma 😂

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