About 10 days ago, I posted about my zygocacti. I had a few photos of them and I asked the question about whether they were Christmas or holiday cacti.
One of my helpful readers commented that she thought mine were all holiday cacti, and that she never sees true Christmas cactus sold anymore. That makes sense.
I believe that the type that I have can be pretty easily manipulated to bloom right about now–just when we gardeners and gift givers are going to want them–by controlling the temperature and light that they receive.
I have always appreciated my plants because they are totally carefree for me. I admire the way the buds are generally a different color from the blooms. And I love the long bloom time that they have on even small plants.
But this year a catalog made me notice something entirely different. First of all, the catalog had numerous zygocacti, all named varieties, (which I didn’t realize existed), some of which they were selling together as a trio in one pot. Interesting.
Next, I always just thought there were maybe 4 colors: red, pink, white and some undefined orange color. Oh, my mistake! This catalog is calling some of these plants yellow, and some of what I would call “white” ivory.
I am famous for seeing numerous colors in a single flower–in a tulip petal, or a rose, for example. I am not sure how I missed this.
Finally, the catalog points out that the pistil/stamens combination on some of these plants are like fireworks! Oh my!
To read up on some of this magnificent language, you can go to Logees and search for Christmas cactus. And while they are one of my favorite plant vendors, they had no idea that I would be featuring them in this manner.
Gardendaze 