Greyand Amy, you don't give your zone, so I've no idea what your conditions are. I grew these about five years ago from seed, and had great luck with them, no problems whatever except that I was never there at the time they gave off their scent.

I grew them out on my hottt, no-mercy St Louis deck in full sun, with all my other plants, nothing special. It gets full sun from south and west from sunup to sundown. They were in Miracle Grow Moisture Control potting soil and clay pots and got watered and rained on with everything else.

However, they never go into a big pot til they are big, robust and healthy plants. Small plants, or sickly ones need to be in small pots. Small new plants from Select Seeds would go into a 6" pot max, maybe even 4" for a while, certainly not into the final big show-pot.

If you have them outside, I think the cactus soil and bone dryness is not what they need. On a warm, windy day here in St Louis, plants outdoors in pots need water nearly every day, even this time of year, at65F, with lots of rain. If it's warmer, they need more water.

Grow your little guys up patiently in small pots, repotting when they outgrow their pots til you get them big and strong enough for a big show pot.

THANKS! I'm doing as you say, I think. I'm in Pittsburgh, PA. After I got them from their very cramped 4 inch pots, I did repot into 6" and waited till roots went through bottom. Then upsized them again only by a bit. They aren't bone dry, I wont kill them. But EVERYTHING you said helped me tremendously!!! THANK YOU!!! I won't be brave enough to use moisture control but will switch eventually to miracle grow... (now it's a mix)..THANKS SO SO MUCH!!

Oh, smile, last time I grew these, I too was never around when they gave off their scent. But this years different. THANKS!!!

Amy

I grew these last year in a clay saucer pot from seed that I ordered from Select Seeds. They came up like weeds and looked great. I waited and waited to catch any scent at all from the beautiful tiny flowers (tried smelling them at midnight, 2am, etc.) but never caught anything so it was off to the compost bin for them.
I hope you have better luck than me!

-Robert

I looked at Select Seeds catalogue for 2011 but didn't find Z. Ovata. Too bad. I have been looking for this for several years.

I do see they have Zaluzianskya capensis, which I have grown and has extremely lovely, strong vanilla/orange fragrance at night. But alas, the fragrance entirely disappears the moment it's brought indoors, where there is light.

FG

As a way overdue update, these have next to NO SMELL. I've given them many nights. I purchased from Select seeds several years ago and I believe the same issue occurred. Flowers, not even outstanding, only open at night. Rabbits love to eat. I'm done with this plant.