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Cactus blooms for hoiday
Lyn Bales - Thu, Jan, 1, 2009
Call it a sign. Perhaps it’s a sign that I’m finally in sync with the rest of the world, or that maybe better days are ahead in the New Year.
My Ch-ristmas cactus actually bloomed on Christ-mas.
In itself, this should not be noteworthy, but my Christmas cactus never blooms during the holidays.
It usually waits until Groundhog Day or Lincoln’s Birthday or National Potato Chip Day (March 14), one of those odd late winter holidays.
I know there’s a trick to making it bloom at Christmas, something about locking it in a dark closet during the month of September.
But do you think it’s polite to trick a plant? What does that say about us if we can find satisfaction in fooling something as naïve as a cactus?
Christmas cacti are originally from Brazil. They are found at elevations between 3,200 and 5,500 feet in the Organ Mountains north of Rio de Janeiro.
The fleshy green succulents are tropical rainforest epiphytes that live on tree branches high in the canopy. Epiphytes grow above the ground, rooted on other plants or objects. Obviously, they are very different from their desert-loving cacti cousins.
Today, there are hundreds of varieties of Christmas cactus that bloom in various shades of white, red, pink, fuchsia and, more rarely, orange and yellow.
But French botanist Charles Lemaire initially developed the cultivars and hybrids we enjoy today. He wrote several books on succulents and cacti in the mid-1800s.
Lemaire gave the plant the botanical name “Schlumbergera” in honor of French plant collector Frédéric Schlumberger. That’s a mouth full.
Because of their penchant of blooming profusely at this time of the year, they soon became known as Christmas or holiday cactus.
They were first bred and sold in England roughly 150 years ago and they made it to America soon thereafter.
Flash forward to the late 1970s. My Christmas cactus comes from a more humble background.
My late grandmother Pearl loved plants. She cared for dozens, the odder the better. She gave me a sprig of her Christmas cactus about 30 years ago; and I have tended it ever since but have always had trouble getting it to bloom at this time of the year.
With houseplants, if they are not doing well in one location, you simply move them around until you find a spot where they thrive.
Two years ago, I started letting my Christmas cactus spend its summers outside in a sunny location in front of the garage, giving it sort of a vacation.
Since then, it has grown more lush and, at least this year, bloomed in time for the holidays.
Certainly it’s a colorful way to start 2009.
Happy New Year to all.
Lyn can be reached at 865-577-4717, ext. 19 or e-mail him at lynbales@comcast.net. His book “Natural Histories: Stories from the Tennessee Valley” is available at local bookstores.
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