15 years ago, Todd's dad Jack, passed away after a long painful bout with cancer. On the day that he died, Todd wanted to plant something as a memorial. There happened to be a cactus nursery, across the way, going out of business. At that point in the liquidation sale, there wasn't much left. Todd spotted the arm of some sort of cactus, just laying on the ground. It was about 25" long. He got it for $25. When he brought it home, I thought that $25 may have been too much, but the nursery owner assured him it was well worth it! So Todd cut the arm into 2 pieces, let the ends scab over and planted the top part of the arm in a pot. He left the other part laying down on its side in another pot. We called it 'The Jacktus". Little did we know, that in about 4 months, it would create a tribute, more awesome than we could have imagined!
The reason we were somewhat stunned, was that the blossoms started out as
little fuzzy balls....
The little fuzzles kept growing and growing, everyday getting a little bigger!
Until one day they popped open right at dusk! And the blossom's sweet fragrance is simply.... Divine!
The next morning, they shriveled up. It was just one night of glory!
We found out later that the Jacktus is an Argentinian Giant (Echinopsis Candicans)
A night blooming cactus.
The other part of the Jacktus remained laying down in another pot. Amazingly, it started to sprout cactus arms...not flowers. About 8 new little cactus grew off of that one. When they got to be about 5" long, Todd cut them off, let them scab and replanted them.
Every year, right around Easter, the Jacktus blossoms and we remember Jack. 15 years later, that one arm has produced literally hundreds of plants we have planted, sold and given away.
When we moved to Elephant Head, we brought a couple of potted Jacktus with us.
And here they are...5 years later!
And right on cue, the week before Easter the Jactus just off the porch did it's thing!
This amazing cactus with it's heavenly scent, was certainly heaven sent! Thank you Jack!
