View Full Version : My "Christmas Cactus" is a tad off schedule!
sasvermont
11-25-2002, 09:22 AM
This plant has always bloomed before Thanksgiving. Wonder why they call it a Christmas Cactus?
By the way, I have had this plant for over 20 years.
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid40/pe32c59d275aabed4deef0f32a271a81e/fd03b2c6.jpg :D
Freckles
11-25-2002, 09:31 AM
It's just letting you know Christmas is coming.
Edwina's Secretary
11-25-2002, 09:37 AM
Perhaps it is signaled to bloom by cooler weather and Vermont gets cooler FAST?????
It's beautiful. I have a mother-in-laws tongue that my boss sent me for my birthday in 1978!
Randi
11-25-2002, 11:43 AM
We have a cactus like yours, SAS - when we came back from our holiday, it blossomed in one side - so I guess it's a good idea to leave them alone for a while! :D
I have one more I inherited from my mum, and she had got it from her mum!! - so God knows how old it is!! But it doesn't blossom. :(
Yours is beautiful! :)
Logan
11-25-2002, 11:47 AM
Sallyanne,
According to my mother, who is a Master Gardener, there are "Thanksgiving" cactus' too! Maybe that's what you have! I have one in full bloom right now, as well, and it has always bloomed at this very same time of year.
Enjoy your Thanksgiving cactus. It is simply beautiful!!! :)
Logan
catland
11-25-2002, 01:54 PM
I have both a "Thanksgiving" cactus and an "Easter" cactus.
Karen
11-25-2002, 02:11 PM
At the office, we have a "Christmas Cactus" that last year blossomed continously from Veteran's Day through Valentine's Day, and it looks like it will do so again this year! It's one of Dad's cast-offs - actually, it's a Bruni cactus, created from pieces she broke off of other cacti when dad moved them to a window that she likes to look out of! An enthusiastic St. Bernard can cause a lot of plant damage unintentionally!
They tend to blossom the same time every year, if yours hasn't blossomed, try moving it to a different window, changing the light exposure (and/or repotting it, because if you've had it so long it may be root-bound.)
Cataholic
11-25-2002, 03:53 PM
My Christmas Cactus nearly always blooms between Thanksgiving and my birthday..he he he, Dec. 1. I figured it was because that was the time I moved it inside for good, and the cold weather had been around long enough to kick it into bloom time.....Mine is just starting to 'pink'. I love it! Now, I will move it into my house....but, what do you do with 25 house plants inside? Too many!
lynnestankard
11-25-2002, 04:25 PM
What a beautiful cactus Sallyann - I have one too and it's not bloomed in 12 years!!! I keep thinking I'll throw it - then I feel cruel so keep it another useless year! LOL.
Lynne
neko1
11-25-2002, 05:30 PM
what a cool plant! Unfortunately I must have a black thumb or something cause I've never been able to keep a plant, let alone one for 20 years!!
That is a beauty of a Christmas Cactus if I ever saw one! Wow! I too have had them bloom ahead of time and never knew why but was just grateful that they were blooming! Eventually they die on me though. :( Since becoming a 'cat person' 9 years ago I have to be careful about plants. My boys like to nibble them and so many plants are poisonous. The only plants I have now are aloe and jade and they are on the kitchen windowsill, a place that the kitties seldom visit.
Kfamr
11-25-2002, 09:45 PM
My mother's Christmas Cactus has blooms on it... she has a few of them... one that was her mother's. They bloom around this time also.
Karen
11-25-2002, 10:33 PM
Originally posted by lynnestankard
What a beautiful cactus Sallyann - I have one too and it's not bloomed in 12 years!!! I keep thinking I'll throw it - then I feel cruel so keep it another useless year! LOL.
Lynne
Repot it and move it to a different window! It probably just needs new dirt and a bit of an awakening!
Sara luvs her Tinky
11-25-2002, 10:44 PM
My mom always seperates her plants and gives me one.... and the other day she gave me a christmas cactus in a cute reindeer pot... it had one real pretty bloom on it. I sat it on top of the microwave to keep it safe... Tinky and Jupiter are not allowed on the counters and really never jump up there...but the next day.. the poor bloom was withered and cruched up where some curious kitty chewed on it... :rolleyes: but I have a bud now where I should have another bloom soon.
My Christmas cactus has done nothing so far - but I think it is because we have had such warm weather here lately.
I have another one that just blooms whenever it feels like it.
Do any of you put yours in a dark place in the fall? I have heard that is what you are supposed to do - and then bring it out in November or so - and you will have Christmas blooms?
My husband's grandmother always did this - and I have never seen such beautiful plants.
SAS - yours is just beautiful!!
lynnestankard
11-26-2002, 07:46 AM
Originally posted by Karen
Repot it and move it to a different window! It probably just needs new dirt and a bit of an awakening!
Done that too Karen!!! What is so annoying my friend has taken a cutting off it - and it bloomed!!!! I'm just going with this plant being 'forever green'!! LOL.
Lynne
Cataholic
11-26-2002, 07:56 AM
Lynne- why don't you repot is with succulent soils...nice and drainy on the bottom, with little rocks. I think if you move it to a cooool place for several months, then bring it inside, it will bloom. Also, have you thought about cutting it back a bit?
Like you, I can't bear to throw out a plant..it seems like I am throwing away a living thing!!
COCatMama
11-26-2002, 08:46 AM
give it fertilizer :) my african violets usually don't bloom, but i put one on a windowsill and BOOM it bloomed like crazy!
lynnestankard
11-26-2002, 12:11 PM
Now my African Violet has been blooming since May - and still going strong!!
Cataholic - I will give it try - again! - fingers crossed!!
Lynne
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