Will it get there?

Not looking good. The Christmas cactus (schlumbergera truncata) in the extension, which gets very little natural light at all, has been in fine, deep pink flower for about a week now. But the chances of this aloe vera being in flower at all on the big day are not looking too good.

The inflorescence is still on the move, at what must be of the order of millimetres a day, but the flower buds still show no sign of actually opening up. No sign either of anything but yellow being involved.

On the other hand, as well as moving up, the flower head also moves around with the sun, with it bowing to the left in the morning and the right in the afternoon. Just like a sunflower.

PS: the record suggests that the flower head has been growing for a bit more than 30 days now and this evening it perhaps 65cm long. So just about two millimetres a day, on average. Spurts when the central heating is on and the sun is out.

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