One day bloom

Each July, Petra Diaz diligently checks beneath her porch stairs every morning as she goes out the door to work, as living under the stairs is an ordinary-looking green leafy plant, seven to eight feet tall with a thick trunk that she has tied up to grow along the wall. Every day is exciting, as she never knows when the special transformation will occur. But she does know when it will end. Every year one or two buds will burst gloriously into bloom and close just as suddenly 24 hours later.

“They open one day and they close the next day,” she said. “I have checked year after year.”

Diaz receiv...