Saturday, January 22, 2011

The Christmas Cactus Blooms Again!

***Warning: This post is about plants.  Skip it if they bore you.***

Some of you may remember when we posted about our Christmas Cactus, but we hadn't taken any pictures of it.  Well, our Christmas Cactus bloomed again, and here are some pictures from it!  The pictures start from when the blossoms first appeared, and end when we have a few full-grown blossoms.










We think that our cactus may actually be a Thanksgiving Cactus, since its blossoms start showing up right before Thanksgiving, and it actually blooms right after Thanksgiving.  I learned from this Wikipedia article that there are several types of this cacti that bloom around Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter.  They are brought bloom because of cooling temperatures and decreasing light.

We had a strange experience with our Christmas Cactus blooming in May of last year.  I think that this wouldn't normally happen unless you were in the Southern hemisphere and it was getting darker and cooler (and this plant originally comes from Brazil, so that's why some of them are also called Easter Cactus).  And the strange thing is, this week Dave noticed that the cactus is blooming again in January!  There are two little blossoms, and we'll see if any more come out.  Weird!

We have a few new additions to our plant progeny:

a) Mother-in-law's tongue (AKA Angel something...)


b) Creepy Charlie AKA Creeping Charlie


c) Avocado Pit


d) Vine Plant

 

8 comments:

  1. Oh my goodness, I didn't know the cactus had such big beautiful blooms! I need to get some from grandma...

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  2. I LOVE Christmas cactus. Someone gave one to my mom when I was born (in May) and ever since then it always blooms in May. It's HUGE now! My grandma would tell me that I was special when I was a little girl because the plant would only bloom for me. Since then, however, I've read similar information to that you've shared about the different kinds. So I'm definitely not that special, but I still love them. :) What fun plants!

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  3. Such pretty blossoms. Thanks for sharing.

    Yes, the Hoppers will make a comeback! I will probably start spreading the news in the next week. I will try to start the team today so you can add your name to the team and get a page you can direct friends and family to. You are an amazing person Merry, and an amazing friend. Thanks for being so happy to be part of the team.

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  4. Hey Merry. I just signed the team up. Go to http://main.nationalmssociety.org/site/TR/Walk/UTUWalkEvents?px=4644547&pg=personal&fr_id=16822 to join the team! I have a photo of last year's team and another one of you and I at the walk if you want to upload a pic to your Walk MS page. Just let me know!

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  5. So pretty!! You must have quite the green thumb!

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  6. I love my Christmas Cactus! It never bloomed before Dave and I got married, and he's actually the one that instigated getting most of the plants. So he's the one with the green thumb. But I love having them around. They really brighten up the kitchen, and when we move into a non-basement apartment they might brighten up the whole house!

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  7. I am jealous of your beautiful blossoms. I love christmas cactus and I have one but it hasn't blossomed. It was a start of my grandma's cactus so it could be a few years before it blossoms. I wait very impatiently.

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  8. Megan, yeah I had to wait about 2 years after I got it as a start from my mom. But hers is a start from a start from a start from a plant that actually crossed the plains with some pioneers. Crazy, huh? So I think that the patience pays off.

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