It's Showtime! Pitaya Bursts onto the Scene

A year or so ago I was investigating bizarre fruits that I might want to add to the finca. I came across the "Dragon Fruit," or Pitaya (Pitahaya). Since it is a cactus/succulent thing I didn't want to spend some bucks and mail order it so I put it in the back of my mind. Then I was at Eneida's Nursery in Cabo Rojo and whalla...there one was for $1.50. I thought our elevation was too high and we might be too wet but for that price I went for it. For a year I have been ignoring the ugly little plant and was just about to move it to a better climbing spot when some giant buds appeared!

We got a little rain and these buds tripled in size and got all elongated.

Then they started to do the "Little Shop of Horrors" thing (minus the singing)..I swear the bracts were moving and dancing about.

So every day several times a day I watched.

And watched some more.

Then I did an evening check (they are nighttime bloomers and it is only for around 18 hours or so) and they had burst into action! They were HUGE and beautiful and did I say huge?

Look at the size of them, they are almost coconut sized! They also had a very nice scent which I didn't expect.

So there in our yard are these gigantic blooms just waiting for bats to pollinate them. The only bad thing is that I probably won't get fruit since you need two different plants. There is a plant some miles away in the jungle but I have not seen buds or flowers on it.

With or without the fruit it is very exciting to witness the blooms since they are so short lived. I did some finger pollinating but it won't work. It just makes me scan websites for possibly the pink flowering one so next year (actually they bloom more than once a year) I can get fruit. Since they are so easy to propagate it is possible Eneida's uses one plant for stock so I don't want to get one from there. I can, however head to the jungle spot and break off a section to start...yeah that's what I'll do. If you haven't seen the fruit you should look it up on line. Supposedly you can eat them fresh as dessert or savory but I have only had them dried.

Look at all the frilly parts.This photo was at 6 in the morning just before it wilted into non-existence.

Pretty sensational!

Another addition to the finca is yet another cat. This little, and I mean little, kitty showed up hungry and very affectionate last night. What are we supposed to do? Ignore the hunger cries? Ignore the purring and rubbing? Well, we decided to ignore the protests of the other 11 until Jeff can find someone at work to take him or the other cats get tired of being bent out of shape about it. It slept inside, tried to pal around with the other hissing growling ones and curled up somewhere inside since we awoke to some little meows...anyone want a very nice little kitty?

Orchids and a Pitahaya

We've got orchids hanging in baskets under the Maria Tree and a couple of them are blooming! This one had a couple sprays like this one (they are at the end but nice anyway).


This is the first time I have seen this large one bloom. For an orchid this is a pretty large flower!

A friend just gave us this orchid this weekend - believe it or not it is vanilla bean - the kind you cook with! I don't know what I thought the plant would look like, but I didn't realize that vanilla is an orchid! I haven't decided where to train it - probably just on the Maria Tree branch (one that isn't covered in Philodendron).

What is this thing a photo of? When we got here there was barbed wire along the driveway fencing off what is now guineo/papaya land . We didn't like all the fencing and wanted to put the bottom area to use so we took it down. There were however a couple of these super heavy and immovable cement posts. Hmmm, what can I do with those? They look weird. So I have planted a Pitahaya (dragon fruit) and am training it up the post and then will connect the two posts with some sort of structure for it. The dragon fruit is a cactus that produces flowers over 2 feet across!!! The fruit is kind of cool as well. I have only had it dried but this plant has cool factor! Do a web search on it and take a look at the fruit and flowers - way way cool!