Early Spring, Late Christmas. (Cactus, That Is)

It might not have been much of a winter, and it may have been almost 70° today, but inside, it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas, lol. One of my Christmas cactuses is still blooming, the bright pink one. Besides my huge cactus which is now more than 90 years old, I've got three small plants and I'm going to combine those three in one container soon. That is if they ever stop flowering!

It's Getting Crowded In Here

My Chinese Evergreen plant, Aglaonema, can be traced back more than fifty years. This was my grandmother's plant, and I remember it as a child in her front hallway. She died in 1969 and by the early 1980s when my aunt Hoohoo died, it had seen better days. I brought it home and took it out of the dirt and placed it in water to strengthen the roots—where it sat for more than TWENTY years. With my career and other life choices, I just never got around to planting it in soil. It thrived for a while, it almost died a few times, and finally around 2004 I potted it. It had been reduced to three single leaves and a massive root system. Within a year of being potted, it had begun to grow into actual stems and now has "trunks" more than an inch thick. It has sprouted 5 baby plants and I've repotted it three times. I can honestly say that it's never been healthier or larger. I know my grandmother smiles down at this one! 

My lush fern next to it is almost 10 years old, and has had its ups and downs as well. I put it outside on the porch a few days too early in the spring three years ago and it was touched by frost one night. I had to cut all the dead fronds off, and it has now come up from the roots and is beautifully full again.

I like to mix-and-match my indoor plants in their pots. Plants grow next to each other in nature, so I don't see any need to have plants growing by themselves in individual pots. This is a large curly spider plant—Cholorphytum comosum bonnie, a Schefflera arbicola, and a large-leafed philodendron (barely visible on the left), all existing together happily. This grouping has been together for approximately five years, and I've had to trim the baby "spiders" off for new plants fairly regularly. I've also "topped" the Shefflera several times and created new plants. The long single leaf sticking out on the right is last year's Amaryllis. It has a few healthy leaves, but didn't send up a flower stem this year, and isn't part of this group. 

I think the key to planting like this  is to group plants that like the same lighting and soil conditions. You don't want to place a water-needy plant in the same pot as one that prefers dryer soil, for example, or one that prefers shade with one that requires full sun.

Hanging in the window is my lipstick plant, Aeschynanthus radicans. I've had it for almost ten years and have had perhaps a dozen "lipsticks," or flowers, during the entire time. It has nice dark green and full foliage though so I keep it around. My Thanksgiving cactus is on the lower left, and is still blooming, and what is left of my violet garden is on the right. I had six African violets growing together for several years, but they all grew so large and were falling out of the pot that I had to remove them. I now have two older ones and a brand new one planted together in the center of the hand-painted pot, and am watching them as they once again begin the move towards the edges, and freedom, lol!

Is it Christmas Yet? Attic Cactus a bit Slow

Better late than never! This small Christmas cactus, living in the attic this winter, has thrown off a few blooms. This plant was started last year from clippings of my 115 year old plant that finally expired. I'm glad to see that it lives on! I planted the rooted clippings in with one of my Dragon Wing begonias to keep each other company. The attic has a great feel this winter, and I think the plants I've placed around it are helping.

Attic View, January

I cut back my dragon-wing begonia before I brought it in for the winter, center. It's leafing out a bit and has a few blossoms, though they're a much lighter pink than they are in summer. I also cut off several sprigs of the purple tradescanthia that was on the bench in the backyard, and am rooting them so I might not have to buy another one for the summer. There are a few stems of christmas cactus in the begonia pot and they're about the blossom, too.

Antique lace adorns a wooden chair, awaiting a new cane seat. Unfinished baskets on the right await the time and inclination to have their rims completed. They've been in this state for more than twenty-years so I think they might stay this way, lol. A turquoise '55 Buick convertible sits on a pair of vintage wooden skis, and a Chevelle SS454 hangs out next to it. One of my train lanterns hangs on a beam in the back.

Potted Palm Flourishing This Winter

Friend, and neighbor, June's potted palm grew so large last summer in Pink Garden's shade garden, she didn't have room for it this winter! It's hard to find space in my, ahem, crowded apartment as well, so I put it up in my attic. While it's not insulated, it doesn't actually freeze up there, so I was pretty sure it would make it through the winter. It's not only "making it through" the winter, it has thrown off a couple of new shoots and is now more than five feet tall and five feet high, lol. It seems to love being up there. I also have all of my geraniums and outdoor begonias up there, and they're all doing really well this winter. 

Better Early then Never

Two views of my Thanksgiving cactus in bloom: from above on the porch, left, and sitting in it's Southeast window indoors, right.

Moving indoors from its summer sojourn in the shade garden, my Thanksgiving Cactus is blooming early. When I brought it in last week, I could see many buds on it, and the better light and warmer temperatures in my apartment have brought out the blooms. Usually it blooms a bit later, closer to Thanksgiving, but I'll take flowers any time of the year. This is one of the newer ones, I believe my mother bought it in the mid 1970s. The other cactuses (or cacti-I remember from last summer's post!) are the rounded leave version, which I call Christmas cactuses. Three of them are still only showing leaves, but one of the small ones I started last year from my dying 114 year old plant, is starting to show teeny-tiny buds. I guess that one will be early too. The plants absolutely loved their new position in the shade garden, on top of a white wrought-iron planter, as opposed to sitting on my porch behind the Azaleas where the chipmonks would dig in their pots every so often. The leaves of these plants have never looked greener or healthier, a great sign since I lost my oldest one last winter.

They Snuck Up On Me

These dark pink violets started blooming while their side of the "violet forest" was facing the sun. I didn't notice them until this morning when I turned around their large, hand-painted pot, so the other side would get more light. The rest of this grouping has a darker, true purple blossom. The leaves of a hanging lipstick plant dip into the photo on the right. As usual, I can't take a photo indoors without some sort of small car being visible. At the bottom right is a red 'late '90s Camaro convertible by Matchbox.

Cactuses on Vacation in the Grove

Sitting on a white, thrift-store, wrought-iron plant stand, a gift from June earlier this summer, my cactuses are thriving outside in the filtered shade of the grove. They are captured clearly in the top photo, and through the criss-crossed fronds of the large potted palm in front of them.

I N D O O R   P L A N T S — Glimpsed through one of the large potted palms, my Christmas and Thanksgiving cactuses love being outside all summer. They must be in the shade though, with only minimal filtered sunlight. They acclimate quite quickly from their other three seasons inside, and the beneficial insects keep them clean and healthy all summer. They can't seem to throw off enough new leaf segments. In the fall, they'll go in the guest room with the sheers closed, giving them around 7 hours of low-light. I don't use that room much, and the lights are never on at night, the perfect setting for these plants to set lots and lots of buds for their season. The Thanksgiving cactus usually blooms throughout the month of November and the Christmas cacti bloom from late November through February, with occasional new blossoms in April. These plants live forever, almost. They were given to celebrate births in my family, so their ages are well-known. I lost my grandmother's last year, which was 114, but had been in declining health for about five years. The stems eventually get so woody and so thickened that no amount of care, short of cutting the newest ones off and rooting them will help. Which is exactly what I did. I have one that is 92, which is the age my mom would be, and one that is 53, mine. I've given several away, and have started several more. The rest of mine are only 4-5 years old. The Thanksgiving cactus is approximately 35 years old, and was gifted to my mother from a former patient of hers.

The Thanksgiving cactus has points on its leaves, as opposed to the Christmas cactus's rounded lobes. Here it is shot looking down at it in the photo above. All of the brighter green leaves on the plants are new growth from this summer. This plant is a young 35-or-so years old.

For more on these plants, click here.

For how to care for these plants, click here. The photo illustrated on this site shows a plant with pointed leaves, which I would call a Thanksgiving cactus and they identify it as a Christmas cactus. I'd bet that the terms are probably interchangeable, and passed down from family member to family member as well, but I've used the ones I was taught. They have slightly differently shaped, and colored, flowers.