Tuesday, December 2, 2008

Winter Blooms


I rescued these three Christmas cacti from the local grocery store several years ago. They were terribly water-logged and headed for certain doom. I just couldn't leave them in that state. I took them home and sopped all of the excess water out of their pots. They've rewarded me with lovely blooms every November/December since.

Also called Zygocactus or Schlumbergera, these plants require minimal care. Which is great for me! I don't exactly have a green thumb.

5 comments:

BeadedTail said...

Wow, those are gorgeous! I don't have a green thumb either but can't have too many plants because of our cats. There's only so much room up high on the mantel!

Erika said...

These are beautiful. My husband is waiting for me to fix the backyard. Now that I have moved to a different climate, I have to learn about the native plants and what will be safe with two little ones.

I agree with beadedtail. I would love to hve plants inside but with two babies it would be a disaster!

Ceci said...

So beautiful! and a good deed to boot.

I have such a black thumb. This summer, I tried again, despite constant plant deaths in my past. Rather than doom a new plant from the store, I rescued a promising looking scrap of a dried up succulent from my SIL's pot garden that died after she moved out... put it next to the kitchen sink in a little pot of good soil, where I wouldn't forget to water it. It took 2 months to get a nice green color to travel all the way up the stem, plumping it out until it finally started sprouting some tiny round leaves. It almost looked like a real plant again.

I was so proud, thinking I had reversed my plant-keeping fortune. And then, my MIL came over and was doing some dishes, knocked something against the little plant and snapped the stem in half. I tried to revive it again but it shriveled up and died.

I don't know if I'll try again. I probably will. I'm stubborn like that.

HomeMadeOriginals said...

Yours have such beautiful, big flowers, this is the first year mine has bloomed, in the past all the flowers fell off before they got big. I don't have a green thumb by any stretch of the imagination.

storybeader said...

So nice you could save them - I'm thinking they're saying thank-you!