Spotted by our friend Eliza Blank of The Sill, a night-blooming orchid cactus is thriving nowhere near the tropics, on a bookshelf in the heart of Chinatown in New York City. Does this mean the rest of us in non-tropical zones also can have one?
Photographs by Eliza Blank.
Above: “Don’t be fooled by its somewhat awkward characteristics,” says Eliza, founder of The Sill house plant delivery service. “This cactus, which appears to be all stem, is capable of producing astonishingly large blossoms.” The catch? You may have guessed—the plant blooms only at night, and possibly only for a single night, depending on the hybrid you have.
You can buy the same variety of night blooming cactus, an Epiphyllum Oxypetalum “with pure white flowers the size of dinner plates” for $10.95 from Logee’s.
And if you’re as captivated by the lamp as by the plant? It’s Artemide’s Tolomeo Mega Floor Lamp, available for $1,025 from Design Within Reach.
Above: Like any cactus, this one needs little water. Says Eliza, “You should let it go dry between waterings, which makes it a particularly good fit for this mod glass vase, lined with rocks and moss.”
For more about The Sill, see Houseplant Door-to-Door Delivery.
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