Quips & Anecdotes - Blooming Dragonfruit Flowers

I'm not sure if you have seen dragonfruit vines before or even the fruit itself (actually called pitaya but commonly known as dragonfruit). Perhaps you have heard its name as an exotic tasty treat that you cannot get very often. If you're in the OC area or happen to be around a lot of Vietnamese supermarkets, you've probably seen dragonfruit on the grocery shelves for quite the pretty penny. The neat thing about my parents is that they like to grow several things in our backyard, and dragonfruits are one of those things. The fruit grows on vines and comes about only after a flower has bloomed. What I have also loved about the flowers is that they only bloom at night and are huge; they are a brilliant, glowing white color and last for that one night. Bees swarm them in the morning and then they die during the day. From the base of the flower emerges the dragonfruit itself which takes a few more days/weeks to get to a ripened size. It's really quite magical. Right now is about the time the dragonfruit are going to grow so if you want me to tell you when they're going to bloom, give me a holler to see if you can come over. I'd love for you to get a load of these in the nighttime when they're most beautiful! As for taste, ours are deliciously sweet and refreshing with actual flavor instead of goopy, seedy nonsense that you might unluckily snag at the store. If you still don't know what dragonfruits are, click here.