Christmas Cactus

Dear Readers, in my ‘plant hospital’ (i.e. a desk at the back of the house) my Christmas Cacti have been quietly minding their own business all year, before suddenly busting forth in the past week or so. They are so splendid that I had to share them with you. The white one is smothered in flowers, and I love the magenta stigma against the ivory of the petals.

The pink one is not quite so floriferous, but even so, the flowers are enough to cheer anyone up.

And the red one has only a few flowers, poor little thing, but I seem to remember that that was the same last year.

What I’m puzzled about is what exactly has triggered these plants into flowering. Is it day length? Is it that I suddenly started watering them a bit more? Whatever the reason, they are all a bit previous, poor dears, as they are Christmas cacti and now it will all be over by the big day. Nonetheless, I am delighted that they’re flowering again, and now I just need to think what to do when they’ve finished. Should I be repotting them? Feeding them? Watering them less? Over to you, Readers! If you’ve managed to keep a Christmas Cacti for years, I bow to your superior knowledge and expertise. Failing that, I will be pulling out my copy of ‘The House Plant Expert’ by Dr D.G Hessayon that I have had for about a century, and actually reading it. As indeed I should, as it’s now out of print and selling for nearly £40 on Amazon.

And if you want to read a bit more about Christmas Cacti, here’s a Wednesday Weed that I did on these very plants in 2021. So they’ve survived two years. Thank you to my lovely friend Jo who bought them for me as a Christmas present.