A Christmas cactus that’s (more than) old enough to vote? Hooo-lyyyyy!
Fluffy-Salamander568
Thats a treasure. Keep good care
mclurf
What an awesome gift! I hope you and your family enjoy it for many years to come!
SFplantie
Wow, that’s quite a plant! Your uncle took great care of it, and I hope you will too! True Christmas cacti, like this one, aren’t grown commercially any more, so you have something of a collector’s item there.
The holiday cacti you see for sale now are Thanksgiving cacti- you can tell because the segments have “teeth” or spikes, not smoothly rounded scallops like yours. Thanksgiving cacti are just better suited to retail needs – they grow faster, bloom earlier, and stay a bit more upright so they’re easier to ship. It doesn’t help that the nursery industry has quietly transferred the common name “Christmas cactus” onto the plants they sell now, because it sounds more appealing to consumers.
Anyway, take care of your legacy plant, because you won’t be able to replace it easily. And if you want to share cuttings (they are easy to propagate) you will help keep this species in cultivation, kind of like those old-fashioned heirloom tomatoes and apples.
Oh, and they need dark conditions to set flower buds, so keep it in a room where you don’t turn the lights on at night. At least from late summer to mid-autumn, then once the buds have started to grow, you can bring it back into normal family life. Good luck and enjoy your new beauty!
manic_popsicle
It’s so beautiful, congrats!! I’ve never seen one that huge!!
7 Comments
Dude it has hardened into bark
Gorgeous! It looks so healthy.
A Christmas cactus that’s (more than) old enough to vote? Hooo-lyyyyy!
Thats a treasure. Keep good care
What an awesome gift! I hope you and your family enjoy it for many years to come!
Wow, that’s quite a plant! Your uncle took great care of it, and I hope you will too! True Christmas cacti, like this one, aren’t grown commercially any more, so you have something of a collector’s item there.
The holiday cacti you see for sale now are Thanksgiving cacti- you can tell because the segments have “teeth” or spikes, not smoothly rounded scallops like yours. Thanksgiving cacti are just better suited to retail needs – they grow faster, bloom earlier, and stay a bit more upright so they’re easier to ship. It doesn’t help that the nursery industry has quietly transferred the common name “Christmas cactus” onto the plants they sell now, because it sounds more appealing to consumers.
Anyway, take care of your legacy plant, because you won’t be able to replace it easily. And if you want to share cuttings (they are easy to propagate) you will help keep this species in cultivation, kind of like those old-fashioned heirloom tomatoes and apples.
Oh, and they need dark conditions to set flower buds, so keep it in a room where you don’t turn the lights on at night. At least from late summer to mid-autumn, then once the buds have started to grow, you can bring it back into normal family life. Good luck and enjoy your new beauty!
It’s so beautiful, congrats!! I’ve never seen one that huge!!