Night Blossom

Artist Marcia Chaves
Night Blossom
Oil
10x 20”
In the early 1900’s the opening of the night blooming cereus attracted friends and neighbors in small towns  in Mississippi, Georgia and other regions in the South to witness the flowering of the “lady of the night”.  Opening around nine in the evening, the huge fragrant flower lasts only a few brief hours before withering away before dawn.  Small town newspapers ran announcements for cereus viewing events, gatherings on porches and parlors to share its beauty.   Pulitzer Prize author Eudora Welty founded a Night Blooming Cereus Club in Jackson, Mississippi  to promote this fellowship and host dusk to down parties.  Today, treasure plants  are passed down from one gardener to another, carried from place to place  as prized family traditions.