Plant's beauty fleeting

Mona Gay has this magical plant, a night-blooming cereus. This is one flower show I might actually stay awake for.

As the name implies, this beautiful flower opens only at night for a few hours, and then it wilts and dies. But boy oh boy, while alive, it's magical, Mrs. Gay said.

"It opens there right in front of you," she said. "And it smells better than any French perfume."

Also known as Queen of the Night, it is a member of the cactus family and hails from South America. Without blooms, it's not terribly impressive. It resembles a Christmas cactus with long, flat segmented leaves, but it's much larger. Mrs. Gay said the blooms form at the junction of the segments.

A friend gave Mrs. Gay a cutting about five years ago. She nearly lost it one year when her husband forgot to bring it in before it got cold. "I only had one leaf left," she said.

But it's a huge monster of a plant now, which speaks to Mrs. Gay's green thumb.

When she and her husband moved to Grovetown in 1996, their property was covered in pine trees and the ground was very rocky, Mrs. Gay said.

After she retired, gardening became her full-time passion. They cut trees and amended soil and started planting the tropical plants thast Mrs. Gay grew up around in her Panama home. She has lived in the United States more than four decades but still has an affinity for tropical plants.

In addition to area favorites such as camellia, azalea and Confederate rose, Mrs. Gay has filled her "play areas" with elephant ears, trumpet flowers, lilies and ginger. There's a monster-size pitcher plant hanging from a tree branch just waiting for insects to come explore its upside down flowers.

A grapefruit tree stands guard next to her home.

"Growing a flower to me is like raising a child," Mrs. Gay said. Both need a good start, good nutrition and lots of care and love, she said.

"I baby my flowers," she said.

Reach Sandy Hodson at (706) 823-3226 or sandy.hodson@augustachronicle.com