by Melinda Myers
Add weeks of colorful flowers and decades of enjoyment to your indoor plant collection with holiday cacti. Dress one up with a decorative basket, container, or foil wrap and give it to a favorite gardener or holiday hostess. You’ll find a variety for sale at your local garden center or florist.
The plant sold as a Christmas cactusmay in fact be a Thanksgiving cactus. The true Christmas cactus blooms later and has small segments with rounded edges. The Thanksgiving cactus, though often sold as the Christmas cactus, has toothed or jagged segments and typically blooms earlier. To add to the confusion, there are hybrids of the two that bloom in between these.
Fortunately, their growing requirements and care are essentially the same so the plants will do fine no matter the name on the label. Keep your flowering holiday cactus in a cool bright location to extend its bloom time for as long as four to eight weeks. Avoid hot and cold air drafts, moisture stress, and other environmental changes to reduce the risk of bud and flower drop.
These holiday cacti are epiphytes that naturally grow on trees in the rainforests of Brazil. They all prefer bright indirect light, high humidity, and thorough watering when the top few inches of soil begin to dry. Don’t overwater but don’t let the soil dry completely. Water a bit more often when the plant is in bloom.
Grow them in an organic well-drained potting mix for best results. Water thoroughly and pour off any excess water that collects in the saucer to avoid root rot. Reduce maintenance and improve the growing conditions with the help of gravel trays. Place a layer of pebbles, decorative stones, or marbles in the saucer or bottom of the foil wrap or basket. The pot will be elevated above any excess water collecting in the pebbles. As this water evaporates it increases the humidity around the plant.
Fertilize with a dilute solution of flowering houseplant fertilizer once it finishes blooming and throughout spring and summer as needed. Grow your cactus in a north-facing window or back from an east- or west-facing window where it receives bright indirect light throughout the year. Too much sun turns the leaf segments dark red.
Don’t be anxious to move these plants to a bigger container. They prefer to be somewhat pot-bound and can remain in the same pot for years.
Encourage a new flush of flowers with cooler night temperatures around 55 to 60 degrees and slightly drier soil. An uninterrupted dark period will also help promote flowering.
Next fall, start the dark treatment in early October to get holiday flowers. Cover the plants or move them to a location free of artificial light, indoors or outside, each night for 14 hours and provide bright, indirect sunlight each day. Any interruption in the dark period from outdoor, street, or reading lights can delay or prevent flowering.
Make this the year you add holiday cacti to your indoor plant collection and consider purchasing a few for friends and family. These easy-care flowering beauties will brighten indoor holiday décor and everyone’s mood.
Melinda Myers has written over 20 gardening books, including Midwest Gardener’s Handbook, 2nd Edition and Small Space Gardening. She hosts The Great Courses “How to Grow Anything” instant video and DVD series and the nationally syndicated Melinda’s Garden Moment radio program. Myers is a columnist and contributing editor for Birds & Blooms magazine. Myers’ website is www.MelindaMyers.com