Big white flowers

Thank you to everyone for their kind words and greetings on the 10th anniversary of PNLIT. Our apologies for not acknowledging your encouragement and affection earlier. The reason for this delay in responding was a flower. Yes. A Big White Showy Flower. 

When we went to the lake on the 11th, the first thing that caught our eyes was a profusion of these big white flowers which hung from the chain link fence behind the gazebo. At first glance they looked like Brahma Kamal which blooms at night and droops during the day. That too, apparently once a year. 

Was nature giving us a gift? Though thrilled, we sent the photos to five experts.  All of them  confirmed that it is not the Brahma Kamal. Two felt it was likely to be Dragonfruit. This sent us into another tizzy. Our gardeners insisted that they had only seen the flowers, never any fruit. Today morning, our mentor said that it is not easy to guess what's preventing pollination and suggested that we try hand pollination since these are big flowers. We have no clue how to go about this just as we have no idea how the plant came up at the lake in the first place. 

Pictures taken by Sapana (our coordinator) and Ramu (our gardener)

A year or two ago, we had noticed the cactus-like stem growing on the bamboo behind the gazebo but, caught in other work, hadn't quite paid attention to it. Now they burst into flower and how! The Brahma Kamal flowers are said to bring prosperity and good fortune. We hope the flowers of the Dragonfruit will do likewise as we enter our 11th year!