The Peruvian Cereus are loaded with blooms and fruit right now!
Also called Night Blooming Cactus as they bloom at night.
If you don’t get up early, you might miss the blooms so grab that cup of coffee and spend the morning on the patio and enjoy those blooms!
These are unique specimen additions to anyone’s collection. These cactus are fairly easy to care for, they are drought tolerant and don’t require a lot of care. They will form small buds that will swell into large blooms as seen above.
The Peruvian Cereus grow to be large columnar cactus and grow multiple columns / lower arms as they mature.
After the blooms expire, leave them on the cactus. A fruit will form as the photo below shows.
The fruit on these is not particularly sweet. It resembles a kiwi and has lots of little black seeds inside. The texture is the similar to a kiwi as well. You do not want to eat the rind- it is tough and not for eating. I typically cut them in half and eat them with a spoon. Customers have reported eating them with vanilla ice cream.
Will have to try that one out! Have you tried one?
Protect From Freeze
Here in Austin Texas and the Dripping Springs area, we recommend to keep them in a container so that you can protect them from the cold.
To protect them, you can take them inside, inside a garage or lay them over on their side. Make sure and cover the entire plant (pot included). Many choose to take indoors so you don’t have to worry about covering them, though it is not hard to do.
Use a sheet, a blanket or frost cloth, layering up depending on the temperature.
