Primping for the holidays

The Holiday Cactus pots have been brought in from the cold. I moved them out of the sunroom in about mid-February and they spent the warm months on a semi-shade patio. They were out in the cold until they had been exposed to about 38-39F for a week to make sure the buds were set firmly. Back in the sunroom now to get them popping for Christmas. The sunroom is not heated so they have night time temps of about the mid 40's with daytime temps between 60 and 80F. They are beginning to fill out and should be ready for Christmas! They've grown considerably larger since their last photo-op last Christmas http://davesgarden.com/forums/fp.php?pid=735308 .

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Oh, you've gotten me very excited about one day seeing my holiday cactus blooming. I've got two cuttings from different types. Both rooted successfully, so I hope next year I'll have some blooms :-) Yours are really beautiful!!!!

-Julie

so beautiful..wish mine looked like that

Thanks! My favorite is the last one, it looks just like really good peach colored silk. It's in the PDB, 'Christmas Fantasy' with images from last year.

These are really no hassle plants, they prefer to be ignored when not in bloom. It will be at least another year before I might see some yellow......got some really small cuttings last winter. They are now about 6-8" long, but no sign of buds for this year.

What big beautiful pots of CC. Aren't they great plants? Such little care and such a lot of flowers.

So pretty. I really love these plants. They are always green and do not mine the benign neglect with which they are treated. And they bloom like crazy as an added bonus. I ended up with a peach one in my no-name surprises from last year. I am a happy frog.

Candy -- they are just lovely! They continue to be one of my favorites. Several of mine are blooming right now too, but I haven't brought them inside yet -- no room LOL!

PS -- congratulations on your photo contest wins -- all your entries were gorgeous, as usual :) !!!

Gretchen

Happenstance, really lovely CC. I have a couple of small ones just beginning, My Thanksgiving one is just goingi, I posted pics of it before. I lost a couple because of extreme neglect. Donnna

Hiya Janice, Gretchen and all!

Thanks for the nice comments.......nothing better than a plant that requires so little and performs in such a spectacular way year after year. And congrats to you Gretchen on your lovely photo wins too! There were so many great entries and such interesting plants

Candy, I said it on another thread way back there; Cacti and waterlilies have some of the most exquisit blooms of all the plants, and your fotos certainly bear that out!!!
lol,Perry

Thanks Perry......here's another one coming into its own.

OOOoooooo the Yellow poinsettia is also very pretty. What sun requierments does that one have? My deep red one loved full sun. Others here are listed in the GCs are shade plants. The yellow would look pretty in one of my shade borders, but obviously not if it likes more sun LOL

-Julie

Sadly the 'Lemon Drop' Poinsettia has gone to the compost heap. It did well in the ground, was looking very promising around Halloween when I left for Mexico. Upon returning it looked a little bedraggled along with a few other nearby neighbors.

The #$&@*% pocket gophers took out everything within about a 5' x 5' area.....just generally rampaging around to get to a couple of the few Eryngiums I had left. I'm not replacing them anymore because they seem to be high up on the gopher treat list. These are spiny tough plants......eaten spines and all by the local gopher population.

:-( so sorry to hear it Candy. Which Eryngium did you have?!?! The one I know about here (or at least this looks exactly liek what I'm famiiar with) is a horrible awful dispicable weed (can you tell I think they are bad? ;-). http://davesgarden.com/pdb/showimage/6568/ Just AWFUL! I had to pull up about 100 of those....very well developed and about 1 meter tall when I cleared our upper garden in early summer this year. Oh my hands just hurt THINKING about it! No gloves could withstand the spines on those things! Agh! They grow all over the place here and, yes, they do have lovely thistle flowers in summer which then dry out and are a favorite food source for finches here. But SHEESH! I can't imagine anyone wanting to plant those hazardously spiny things ON PURPOSE! But in this case I actually do hope that's what the gophers ate. ;-)I hope the gophers got sore gums after destroying your lovely plants!

-Julie

This message was edited Dec 8, 2004 10:52 PM

They are indeed wicked plants and one should always be on guard......loved the blue/gray foliage of some of mine and the bright blue thistle like flower heads. :(

These became gopher food over the last 16 months:
Eryngium agavifolium
Eryngium alpinum
Eryngium eburneum
Eryngium maritimum
Eryngium sp
Eryngium variifolium
Eryngium x 'Sapphire Blue’
Eryngium x tripartitum

These have survived the marauders so far:
Eryngium ebracteatum - Burnet-flowered Eryngium
Eryngium venustum

Check the PDB for some images of the various Species:
http://davesgarden.com/pdb/b/Apiaceae/Eryngium/none/species

As I said, I won't be replacing them......the gophers will go through anything to get to them. Sometime in June they took out a half dozen plants including a 3' x 3' Jade which they toppled within a matter of hours to get to a plant about ten feet away and a mere 6" high.

Well, send those gophers a note that there are more of those things here than they could ever get through.....the gardeners who have to clear them out of the local parks would appreciate the help LOL

But seriously though, I have thought about planting one of those and another wild plant that is very reminiscent of tarragon...flowers and all....to attract finches and butterflies to my garden. The gold finches and green finches love the Eryngium and the butterflies love the tarragon look-alike. Still haven't gotten my head around it though. My only fear is that if I introduce just one plant of each, they'll both multiply like mad and I'll be forever working to get rid of the seedlings.

No gophers here though, so no worries about that LOL

-Julie

Eryngium alpinum http://davesgarden.com/pdb/showimage/57980/ - absolutely enchanting!

Eryngium amethystinum http://davesgarden.com/pdb/showimage/21557/ - lovely but looks like it would be wicked when dried

Eryngium bourgatii http://davesgarden.com/pdb/showimage/6568/ - if this isn't the one we have, it's awfully similar. OUCH! is right!

Eryngium maritimum http://davesgarden.com/pdb/showimage/23468/ - we have something very similar to this one as well, but not quite the same

Eryngium variifolium http://davesgarden.com/pdb/showimage/47269/ - this could also be the one we have.

In any case, they certainly are lovely while in bloom, but oh so much more painful once they've dried out a bit.

-Julie

Here's an updated image........two weeks since the initial image was taken. Holding them in the sunroom, so they will hopefully be just about at their peak for Christmas.

They sure have "primped" LOL.

LOL! They sure are doing their best to be ready for the holidays.

one word......WOW!

Candy, With those beautiful plants, you wouldn't need any other decorations !!!!


Perry

Those Christmas Cactus' are wonderful!

WOW wow wow, just beautiful, only one of mine is blooming, it is white with pinkish tones, top of flower has a red spot, pretty

What more can you say but " WOW " and I thought mine were great.

Anna

BEEEE U TIFUL! Gee - you don't need to do any decorating at all!

I think there are a couple of reasons these did so well this year. We had a very mild winter last year, warmed up fast and was in the 80's in February. They had a long hot summer to grow and then around Halloween it got cold really fast and stayed that way for several weeks. Shocked them into blooming like crazy!

Here is one of the plants in the above image on November 1st of last year......it was still very warm during the days and the blooms don't last nearly as long as they do during cooler days/nights.
http://davesgarden.com/forums/fp.php?pid=698139

I agree that with those gorgeous plants you don't need any other holiday decorations. I love the different colors.

Thank you for starting this thread. I have two very nice Christmas cactus in my kitchen window. I read your thread and then looked at my plants and thought, when are mine going to bloom? They were covered in blooms only on the window side and I didn't even notice until I read this thread. They are now turned around and look lovely. I just turned them a little and the other side now has buds on it.

Candy .. those Christmas Cactus' are most lovely .. They, and the Poinsettia are almost too lovely to be true: exquisite silk .. comes to mind! ... Jes simply 'wow' plants, and wonderful shots!

The other thing I'd like to bring to the forefront here .. (dag-blast-it! hee) .. is, how is the 'Happenstance Garden II' (or, 'CandyLand II) .. property acquisition progessing ? .. I checked that particular thread: .. and there's no updates nor any posts, since Aug 19, 2004 .. Isn't it a 'done deal'? .. Any, progress at all .. ? .. Or have I jes been dozin', like Rip Van Winkle, yet again ? .. heee

If there has been or, is .. any new 'happen'stancin' @ 'candy-land II ' (hee) goin' on .. please bring us current, soon .. ok?

Merry Christmas to you and yours .. !!

- Magpye

So glad you like my posies......they really are so pretty and worth the wait from season to season. And about our "Field of Dreams".....I responded back on the original thread with an update for you!
http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/448023/

Patience is a virtue......guess I'm not very virtuous for that reason alone. :-) I want to get the new garden going!

One last drink of water before these pretties put on their party skirts and come inside for the holidays.....their timing is perfect!

Takes my breath away. I may have a combination of Zone Envy AND Christmas Cactus Envy.

Candy you must be planning for a greenhouse in your field of dreams. I do indeed love you various holiday cactus.

I t is about time for breakfast so must go fix something.

Also must get my suitcase finished packing for my quidk trip to youngest son and family for Christmas. Will leave tomorrow and come back home the 27th.

Wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas and Happy Holiday season. Love to All, Donna

Candy, wow, just beautiful again, your thumb is beyond green,
Rutholive, you have a great and safe trip!
And to all of you, a Warm and Happy Holiday Season! Annie

Hi Happenstance--was just browsing thru the photos and saw your fabulous Christmas cactus display...really beautiful...and I'm going to save your 'procedure' to use on the three little babies I bought a Depot this month...thanks for posting your pics. And Happy Christmas! t.