AT THE END OF THE DAY, I "caught" and added Ruth's and Bill's tiny warrior to the BLOG. Ounce for ounce this may be the fiercest creature in the world.
An epiphyllum on our back porch seems to have forgotten that it has done its thing already this year. It has produced three new blossoms at a time when it should be dormant, so how could I ignore this botanic gift.

The epiphyllum is actually a jungle cactus, and as such it needs limited, dappled sunlight and not full sun to produce blooms. Our porch is the perfect place. Epiphyllum is a Greek word meaning “upon the leaf.” The plant doesn’t have actual leaves. The broad, leaf-like parts upon which the flowers appear are actually thickened, flattened stems.

I broke off this blossom from the "mother" plant and took it out into full sun for today's photographs. For the first photograph below, I left the bud right where it is growing, and it will open in a day or two.