HOLIDAY CACTUS
Some plants are instant gratification items. In December that category usually includes poinsettias and, sad to say, the beautiful, floriferous cyclamen. The problem is that both are greenhouse-grown and forced into bloom for the holidays. Keeping them healthy and bringing about rebloom is a long-term proposition and not many people are willing to commit to it. Tissue culture reproduction has also made many decorative plants so cheap that it is easier to replace them a year from now than care for them until then.
That is one of the reasons why I like Christmas cactus or Schlumbergera Bridgesii. Like other holiday plants, Christmas cactus is specially prepped by growers to ensure optimum attractiveness in December. However, it can survive intermittent attention or even a certain amount of neglect and it will still do right by you year after year. It might not bloom right on Christmas Day, but it will prosper over time and gradually increase in size.
Christmas cactus’ popularity rests largely on one feature–the brilliantly colored flowers that first appear as long, pointed buds on the ends of the sprawling, segmented stems. Those flattened, fleshy stem segments also boast scalloped edges and squared off ends. The flowers are often red or dark pink, but hybridizers have expanded the color range to include white, yellow, all shades of red and orange-red, not to mention bi-colors. This year I noticed a Christmas cactus with leaves variegated in medium and pale green. I thought the leaves, coupled with rather light flower color made the plant look less than vibrant. Other Schlumbergera enthusiasts might differ.
My six year-old cactus bloomed beautifully this year right before Thanksgiving after having been outside for the entire summer and half of the fall. It had no period of enforced darkness or intentionally diminished watering. I recall that I stuck a plant food spike in the pot sometime last year, but I can’t remember when that was. The soil drains pretty well, but from the Christmas cactus’ point of view, I’m sure it could be improved with the addition of some peat and sand. In the meantime, I know the plant will do its best to fulfill its biological imperatives by photosynthesizing, growing and blooming. I am afraid it is doomed to unrequited longing for its natural pollinator, the hummingbird. However, since it is a hybrid, many generations removed from its ancestral home in the higher altitudes of Brazil, maybe it won’t pine too much.
Cactus identification can be tricky. The plant normally sold as “Christmas Cactus” is supposed to be Schlumbergera Bridgesii but it may actually be “Thanksgiving Cactus” or Schlumbergera truncata. If you see specimens in shops during the spring, they are probably “Easter Cactus”, known these days as Schlumbergera Gaertneri. Sometimes all three are known by the semi-commercial designation “Zygocactus”. There are differences among the species in stem segment configuration, compactness and flower color, but hybridization has affected those traits, further muddling plant identity. Suffice it to say that if you buy a Schlumbergera in November or December it is either a Thanksgiving or Christmas cactus. If you buy it in late winter or early spring, it is probably an Easter cactus.
Like their relatives, Epiphyllum or orchid cactus, Schlumbergera are epiphytes that grow high in trees, clinging to branch intersections where leaf litter and other debris collect. They need more water than true terrestrial cacti, so add water when the surface of the soil is dry.
Schlumbergera got its long name from Frederick Schlumberger (1804-1865), a Belgian botanist and plant collector who reputedly discovered the genus. It must have gained popularity rapidly after its discovery, as it has been a popular houseplant since Victorian times.
Ease of propagation has added to that popularity. If you have one that is especially beautiful and want to produce more of them, cut off one of the stem segments and insert it in a container of potting mix so that only the top third is showing above the soil line. Put it somewhere in indirect light, water when dry and in a few weeks you should see new growth. If you are one of those foresighted individuals who does things like buying wrapping paper on sale right after Christmas; make a note to yourself to pot up several Christmas cactus cuttings as soon as you have stowed all that wrapping paper. With proper care, your cuttings will be available to use as gifts next year at this time.
Christmas cacti will be most inclined to set buds if you are able to put them outside for late spring and summer and bring them in before frost but after the days shorten and the temperatures start to dip. They do best in indirect light–light shade outdoors and an east-facing window indoors. Too much light makes the leaves burn.
Like many plants, Schlumbergera will let you know if it is happy by growing and blooming prolifically. And a happy Schlumbergera means a colorful holiday season for its owner.