One of our cactus flowers

Helena called me to the cabin yesterday as she spotted the red cactus of the Epiphyllum family had flowered.  I had pointed out the small bud of this bloom to her a few days ago, and in fact there were two buds, but only this one has opened so far.  I am delighted as I have been growing this Epiphyllum for decades and it only flowers rarely.

It grows in a pot which I put on the top of a stack of shelves in the shaded area of the cabin, but just on the edge of direct sunlight.  It hangs down in metre long strands which have a lot of tiny spines, as I found to my cost today.

I had a few minutes spare after picking Helena up from her Brimscombe job, as I do on most Mondays.  So I took my camera out to the cabin where my tripod was stored, mounted the camera and added a macro lens.  The light wasn't particularly suitable, and I didn't try to add any to make the scene more interesting.

So here is lovely red flower which is a bout six inches in width to mark this rare event.  I may try to play more with the scene when the other bud opens, probably in a couple of days. Meanwhile my Amaryllis has also just opened two of its four flowers and it too needs to be recorded, as none of these flowers lasts long.  The plants invest a lot of their energy in producing them so I feel duty bound to honour them in photographs as well as in the flesh.