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Rare night-blooming cereus opens at St. Patrick’s Church in La Salle · Illinois Valley - Shaw Local

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  Rare Night Blooming Sirius opens at Saint Patrick's Church in La Salle.
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  Written by Emily Beebe This article is being read by an automated
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  voice, brought to you by Everlett. The smell of vanilla and cinnamon
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  was in the air late Tuesday night, as the night blooming series
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  plant, owned by Sister Norberta Picos, bloomed at Saint Patrick’s Church, in
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  La Salle. Picos visited a Polish woman in Streeter 23 years ago
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  who had the night blooming Sirius plant. Picos was fascinated by this
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  plant. The woman's family was returning to Poland, so Pyikos took the
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  plant and brought it to Saint Patrick's Church, where she has kept
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  it alive ever since. Through winter after winter she moved the plant
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  indoors. She watered it, but not very often since it is a
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  cactus and also gave it natural fertilizer. The plant grows new branches
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  and when leaves break she places them in soil and then from
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  there new life emerges. The night blooming Sirius, also called Epiphylum Oxpedalum,
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  or Queen of the Night, opens only once, sometimes twice a year.
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  It begins to unfold as darkness falls, starting between 7.30 and 9
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  p.m, reaching its full dramatic bloom around midnight. When it opens, it
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  smells like cinnamon and vanilla and is alive for only a few
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  hours. By dawn, the petals collapse, wither, and hang limp. Where are
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  some signs as to when The
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  plant will bloom. Three things to look for are The hook, where
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  the stem of The bud will sharply curve upward so the tip
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  faces outward, the swell, where the main bulbous body of the flower
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  bud will puff up, and the peaking petals, where the dark reddish
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  brown outer scales will start to separate. The plant attracts different types
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  of wildlife such as butterflies and hummingbirds. The flower colors are pink,
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  white, and off-white. The plant stands at five feet tall. Piecos's plant
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  isn't the only one in La Salle. Back in 2020 there was
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  also a night blooming Sirius plant that bloomed at the Hegeler Karas
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  Mansion. Pecos explained what this plant and even nature means to her.
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  Nature fascinates me wherever I work, whether it is countries in Europe,
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  Africa, especially Uganda, and here, Pyko said. God is great, beautiful, and
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  generous. I hope that everyone will appreciate God's creation and praise God.