Christmas cacti?
Our Christmas cactus is blooming again. It bloomed earlier in November but got second wind and produced quite a few blossoms.
We saw these cacti in a grocery store. Apparently they're some kind of Christmas cactus too but the flowers are florescent and they have many more petals that are sharply pointed. This must be a new variety as I have not seen it sold before. An interesting addition to add spark to a drab time of the year.
posted by Ki at
6:12 AM
7 Comments:
We used to have a few of those that instead of the regular holidays, were birthday and anniversary cacti! But I can't be trusted with indoor plants. I will kill them all eventually.
Hi rurality,
We keep buying houseplants but they usually get infested with pests and decline so badly we have to throw them out. We've actually had success with the cacti and jade plants. Those seem to be impervious to small flies, mites, scales, aphids etc. Jades and the Philodendron golden pothos seem to be indestructible.
Ki, you have the touch! I haven't seen these before either! Aren't they something! What great color!
Maybe you can help me with my Jade plant. I've had it for years and, of late, it is unhappy. I am hoping it just needs repotting...boohoo. I'd hate to lose it. It's been so faithful.
Actually, you have Easter Cactus (Gaertneri).
It's very beautiful. Mine are still slowly budding but I can't wait till its covered in blooms like yours.
Gottagarden,
We were definitely attracted by the bright colors of the cactus. I read a while back that the reason most jade plants don't do well is because people water them too much. You should let the soil go dry before watering again and fertilize sparingly. I have our plants in a heavy soil a lot of sand mixed with garden soil. They also like to be rootbound so don't transplant them into too big a pot. Good luck.
Thanks dragonstone. The name makes sense as they are blooming now and probably will continue into Easter. Do you know if this is a recently introduced cactus? I have never seen it before and you would think something this attractive would have been on the market as soon as they could propagate enough of it.
No, it's been around but I think at one time, it wasn't lumped together with the Thanksgiving cactus and Christmas cactus.
You can read more about it here: http://cactus.biology.dal.ca/paulS/christmas/christmas.html
Dragonstone, thanks for the link. Looks like we're in for a tough time trying to keep the Easter cactus alive and blooming. That's all we need - another recalcitrant houseplant.
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