Heather BushmanSarasota Herald-Tribune
Like any proper diva, the Queen of the Night makes her adoring fans wait until she’s good and ready.
And like any marquee performance, the cactus blooms for one night only.
Expert analysis has determined that the main event should happen sometime around the first week of June each year, but an exact date is difficult to pin down until a few days before it happens: isolated sprouts the lone indictor that it’s almost time.
The Queen of the Night cactus plant is one of Marie Selby Botanical Gardens’ crown jewels, blooming only once annually in the interim between dusk and dark. The elusive performer yields a brilliant display of bulbous flowers wrapped around a towering oak tree that open up and close again in a matter of hours.
The plant — known officially as Selenicereus — is native to the Caribbean and Central and South America, but the Selby Gardens staff found it growing on the tree of a neighboring property it had acquired about a decade earlier. It only blooms once a year to optimize its pollination by bats: a nocturnal species that likely accounts for the nighttime presentation.
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Mike McLaughlin, Selby’s senior vice president for horticulture, knew the plant’s peak was approaching quickly Thursday morning when its buds softened ever-so-slightly. Usually rigid, the array of would-be flowers strung up and down the tree started to split and alerted McLaughlin that they were ready for their close-up.
“I came in this morning and all the buds were tight, tight, tight,” McLaughlin said. “But I get back at noon, and sure enough, they’re moving.”
Flash forward to nightfall and the plant delivered on its promise of a show. The Queen of the Night cactus bloomed for an audience of more than 400 on Thursday at Selby Gardens, marking one of the gardens’ most popular events of the year.
Visitors began securing their front-row seats as early as an hour before the program officially kicked off at 7 in the evening. Therese Daugherty, a Sarasota resident, was one of the eager attendees who snagged a prime view close to the tree.
Originally from Michigan, Daugherty moved to Sarasota three years ago and has since experienced a horticultural revolution in her backyard. She’s fascinated by the local climate’s ability to support nature, she said, and she was excited to see a rare flower flourish in addition to the ones she’s grown herself
“All of a sudden, I have a green thumb in Florida,” Daugherty said. “We see things just thrive.”
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The Queen of the Night’s last-minute confirmation didn’t deter turnout, as the allure of the legend was more than enough to draw a crowd — and all the curiosity that came with them. Julia Lopes, a recent graduate of Ringling College of Art and Design, found the premise of a one-night-only bloom too strange to be true.
She’d heard about it a year ago and couldn’t make it out to see it for herself then, but this time, she was determined to quell her questions.
“It seems fake,” Lopes said. “The flower blooms once a year. Why does that even happen?”
McLaughlin, the gardens’ horticulture vice president, did his best to answer those questions as the night’s opening act, but the mystery still lingers.
Selby Gardens staff has made the most of the uncertainty, preparing for months to alert their more than 23,000 member households as soon as they nail down the night of the show. Jennifer Rominiecki, president and CEO of the gardens, said the substantial turnout represents a community-wide enthusiasm for the gardens and local nature at large.
“It’s a phenomenal happening to see this many people turn up to watch a plant,” Rominiecki said. “The size of our membership really speaks to people’s love of coming here.”
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Not only did attendees turn out, but they also stuck around. In the more than two hours it took for the Queen of the Night to show off in its entirety, visitors crowded the tree for some highly touted face-time and photo ops.
The cactus, true to its celebrity status, graciously posed for pictures all night. All the while, it continued to bloom, reaching its peak around three hours into the event.
And when it did, it was a sight to behold. The flowers, once tucked away in buds, opened loud and proud like bright flashbulbs.
Debbie Jordan, a Bradenton resident and member of Selby Gardens, likened the flowers to Dr. Seuss creations. She’d waited to see the flowers since the sun began to set, and once the queen made her official appearance, she said the spectacle didn’t disappoint.
“It’s amazing. Mother nature is amazing,” Jordan said. “You can’t see this everywhere.”
Contact Herald-Tribune Growth and Development Reporter Heather Bushman at hbushman@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter @hmb_1013.
