I haven't written much (anything?) about my love of houseplants yet on this blog. But it's how I got into gardening in the first place. I guess I was an, um, slightly unusual child - my bedroom was full of at least a couple of dozen plants from the age of about 11 and that continued until I left home. These days I don't have quite so many, partly because of the lack of suitable windowsills and other plant perches in my house. One of my favourites is my bright pink Schlumbergera bridesii or Christmas cactus.
It's one of those plants that you often find on sale - and in full bud - in supermarkets and florists, but many people are disappointed because as soon as they take these plants (they're not true cacti) home, the buds tend to drop off. They're not difficult to care for but they benefit from a spell outside in the summer and from a bit of "tough love" in the run-up to the flowering season: the link above gives you the details, but a lack of water is the key. The timing seems to have gone a little awry in the case of this plant, as it's been flowering for a couple of weeks now. With any luck, I can coax it into producing a few more buds so at least it lasts into December ...
So that's what happened to my Christmas cactus! I just bought my first one, and sure enough, all the buds fell off. Now I know why! I need to add it to my growing list of plants that prefer me to be a big meanie-head rather than a sweetie.
Posted by: Gabrielle | November 30, 2004 at 07:28 PM
The good thing Gabrielle is that it will flower again, provided you give it some tough love!
Posted by: Jane Perrone | December 03, 2004 at 09:26 AM