It's an "Easter Cactus"......well not really, but

....it sure was a welcome surprise in the greenhouse on Easter Sunday. It is a hybrid Epiphyllum I picked up at the end of last season in a 6" hanging basket. A nice treat and lovely soft pink color, with the bloom lasting a full three days because of the cool temps. Several more buds on other cuttings from Pat's and some additional hanging baskets from late last summer.

We've had an extremely soggy winter with about 150% of normal rainfall and just in the last week did we break the 60F mark.....been busy with the construction of the new house and haven't contributed much to the discussions over the last months, but will try to stop by with some additional images as the rest of the buds become beautiful blooms.

Hi Candy! It's good to see you here again. Congrats on a lovely flower. I know you've been getting hit with a huge amount of rain. I hope all your plants are okay. I can't wait to see your new yard when you get it all settled. You've got a huge move ahead of you, I'm sure. I'm looking forward to your blooms this year and will share mine also. You'll have to start a new "The Epi's Are Here 2006" thread for us to post our pictures on. Mine should bloom starting in May like last year. I have many more buds this year than last, and it should prove to be quite a show. I had this fluke one in January of this year:

Hi Candy!! Good to see you taking time out from your new house and such and posting again.
Looking good Clare!
Everybody here on this forum is talking for quite a while about their Orchid cactus buds and flowers, when my plants were still all inside and mostly sleeping. My Epi hybrids are now outside on the deck since last week and they are looking good after spending the winter in our garage. I am seeing lots of buds.
Some of the large plants ( oxypetalum and phyllanthus) are still inside for a few more weeks.
Off to a good season, I hope,
Ursula

Hi Ursula! It's great to see you here too! Oh, I can't wait to see what blooms on your balcony this year! I still go to your web site to drool over your plants from time to time when I need a fix! I had the E. phyllanthus out on the patio all winter. I think it went to sleep though because it didn't do much, and some leaves turned a bit yellow and were cut off. I planted the E. phyllanthus seeds in a pot and put that in the greenhouse last fall, and those babies are so cute and growing well! They came out of the greenhouse just yesterday. I'll post a picture soon to show you those.

Hi Clare and Ursula !

Hard to believe we are starting another season of the ongoing dramas with our Epis. :-)

Here's another unknown in the greenhouse from a cutting received last summer. It's a really pretty salmon/peach color about 8" across.

Still quite chilly here, what a long, wet and dreary winter it has been. Progress on the house is slow with lots of stories of the stuck tractors, cement trucks sliding off the driveway, a small landslide at the back of the garden from water saturation........it's finally drying up a bit, but still lots of water coming off the hills. I've pretty much missed the chance to move plants this Spring, but am hoping we can get started on that big project in 2-3 months depending on what kind of summer we have. Move in date for the new house is projected to be no sooner that mid-August.

I continue to use my tried and true method of fish emulsion and lots of snail bait this time of year on the plants in the greenhouse, but have yet to start feeding the outside Epis because of the low temps and monsoons that we're still being hit with.

Love hearing the stories of everyone's lovely blooms and will be popping in more often as time permits! (You would not believe the sorry state of my garden.....it's been a hard winter both weather wise and the time constraints that building the house has put on my playtime.)

And here's a little Aporophyllum 'Caroline' that surely didn't like the cold winter and looks pretty pekid, but is still putting out a number of it's little 2" blooms.

Ü Looking absolutely gorgeous Candy and Clare!!! Ü

Candy, can you believe more rain is coming this week? It sounds like things have been tough for your remodel and for the garden, but hopefully, this will be the last of the rain for a while, and things will start to dry up. How fun that you will have a new house and yard soon! I have a brother and sister in your area. My brother rents a place by the park, and my sister owns a condo there. Your pictures are lovely! I'm loaded with blooms, but it looks like they won't be coming until May. Here are some bud pictures below.

Thanks, Lilypon!

Here are a couple more. I've really got to label them this year! I think these are my apricot/peach ones.

Lovely buds and bloom too Clare.......your buds are much further along than my big outside pots, probably twice the size.

And, yes you are correct......we have yet another storm that will be coming through. The good news is the roof is on the new house and exterior doors and windows arrived on the site today. Our "seasonal" creek which runs through one side of the property is still carrying a good deal of water coming down from the hills. Last year at this time it was just damp earth. :-)

Hi Candy, so good to stumble on this post and find you here again!! I started collecting begonias along with my ever increasing succulent collection and just was looking at your Irene Nuss images and on a hunch, clicked on your name to see if there were any recent posts.
I really have missed your posts and images here! I look around my yard and am constantly reminded of your garden with all the cuttings and starts I got from you, so many things have really taken off. In fact, the epi cuttings I got from you have buds, I can hardly wait to see them here finally. I had to lift them up onto a shelf last year to keep them away from the wicked slugs and snails and they look much better. They are especially prolific this spring it seems. I am trying Sluggo for the first time so hopefully that will put a crimp into the population.

What a winter aye? (that's the Candian in me) Was starting to think we lived in Seattle and they have had it drier than us. I am so behind on all my gardening work, so much repotting, compost to add to the beds, clean up eyc. It's overwhelming.

Hi Sue -

So glad your little starts are doing well. I agree it's been a terrible winter, but yesterday was glorious here and I actually tried to make some headway in cleaning up the garden. It's in that "messier than when you started stage" at this point with piles of clippings all over. :-)

Here's another Epi bud from yet another end of last season bargain.......wondering what color it might be. Off to the new house for a couple of meetings.....leaving the mess in the garden and the fur-balls rolling around the house!

Mine are starting to bloom!

Here is another one today. I think this one is called 'Padre,' and the one above is called 'Saigon.'

Hiya Clare!
Lovely blooms as usual! So pretty and they sure make up for the icky winter we all had.

My next one is gonna be YELLOW! I've wanted a yellow Epi for years and years and if the wind doesn't beat it to death I think I might actually get one! It is 'David's Golden Splendor', one of the many cuttings I ordered from Pat last summer.

Woohoo.......it is beginning to puff up!

Hi Candy! That yellow is so cool-looking! Can't wait until it opens. I think I have Clarence Wright, which is supposed to be yellow, but so far, it looks like a lot of pink buds are forming and one red/orange. Here's another pic from yesterday:

One more:

I have one, this will be the 2 summer,what do you feed the epi's ?

Edna, try fish emulsion. You can get a quart for under $10 at Lowe's, although Walmart might carry it also. Dilutes with one tablespoon to a gallon and I ususlly make it weaker. Buy the deodorized kind and feed every other week.

So pretty Clare and Candy!!
I am surely at least 3 weeks away from first blooms. In the meanwhile I just look at YOUR gorgeous beauties!

Clare, they are just beautiful!

Morning Ursula! The ones I've had bloom were young and/or cuttings I kept in the greenhouse this winter. All of my outside pots are also weeks away from blooms. We had an extremely wet winter and our first frost (once only) in the 8 years we've been here.

And here is my yellow - 'David's Golden Splendor' , no fragrance that I could detect, but it is like a beacon across the garden.

Wow, that's a stunner! Gotta see where I can get one like that, I love the color!

Whoooeee! That's gorgeous.

Thanks, Ursula and Candy, for the compliments:-) Candy, I agree with everyone that that one is a stunner. Good for you! I know you wanted some variation to your regulars that you've had for so many years, and now you got a beacon for sure! That color is tremendous, and the size of the flower looks huge! Did you get that one from Epi's by Pat? I had heard that she is going out of business, but her site is still up. I think I need that one:-)

I accidentally broke off a leaf of my E. crenatum when I moved the pot to move it to safety as electricians were coming. Well, I stuck it in some soil, and now it has three buds on it. I'm not even sure that it is totally rooted. I sure hope they stay on, but it might look funny with three huge blooms on one small cutting. They don't look like they want to drop as they are growing bigger every day. I have my fingers crossed as I have never seen the blooms yet.

I hope you didn't have any damaged epi's from the frost you had.

Do you ever had fragrance on your epi hybrids, Candy? I always thought they were supposed to be non-fragrant. I'm going to have to start smelling mine!

I am new and a epi lover! I have really enjoyed the photos today!! What a treat.
Peggy

David's Golden Splendor is "splendiferous", I love the color!!

Welcome to Dave's, Peggy, and to the Epi Forum! You joined at the perfect time because the flowers should be blooming here over the next few months! I've got an apricot one starting to open now. I'll post pics of it in a bit:-)

Good one, Ursula!

Foggy day here in my little corner of Epiland.......David's Golden Splendor thanks you for all your admiration! And Ursula, I agree that splendiferous is a great word! Hi Peggy, welcome to Dave's and show us your blooms as they arrive.

This yellow was one of the cuttings I purchased online from Epi's by Pat last summer, but I didn't see it listed in her 2006 catalog. I think it shows that the size of the cutting doesn't really matter that much, nor is a rootbound plant necessary for blooms. I always go back to my tried and true recipe for blooms: fish emulsion and they need a winter chill period. The short period of frost we experienced this winter didn't seem to effect the big outdoor pots of Epis at all and the greenhouse (non-heated) was also colder than usual and a number of last year's cuttings have buds coming on.

The only one of my Epis that has fragrance is the big old white one that I've had for a couple of decades......it is a lovely large clear white and smells just wonderful. Not as "sweet" the E. oxy, but powerful, especially in cooler weather.

Beautiful blooms!....I had a question....i have a few epis (newbie to them) and live in the outskirts of Vancouver, Canada....so how do i achieve a winter chill period when sometimes our temps get down to below freezing...not always but can...I have one of those plastic greenhouses from Home Depot and its under an awning on my back patio so therefore, they would be protected from the wind and rain as they wouldnt be right out in the open...but there is still the low temps to be concerned about during December, January and February....could i just bring them into the house on those cold snaps and then back outside when the weather resumes to normal temps? ...

Sandy

Thanks, Candy, for all that info! You are an invaluable source of information here. Your white one is magnificent. I am wondering if maybe it is a hybrid of some sort between E. oxypetalum and another hybrid. I've not heard of any other hybrids being fragrant. Very interesting!

Sandy, you could run a heater inside your greenhouse on those nights that it freezes and try to keep the temps at around 40-45. I think the decrease in light and subsequent increase in light in the spring could also signal them to bloom as well. Mine are outside on my semi-covered patio all year and get the winter chill down to 37, and they get exposed to the natural light conditions as well.

Here are some more pics:

Here is my Apricot one:

I think this one is 'Saigon':

This is 'Padre' again:

Hi Clare...

That gives me something to go find this summer...some sort of an anti frost heater for the little greenhouse....thanks for the idea...your blooms are lovely, such vivid colours they are.....i will keep up with the fish emulsion too.....

Sandy

Sandy, there are other little tricks, but I'm not the best person to ask about this because it doesn't ever freeze in my area, but I've heard about people putting jugs or buckets of water in their greenhouses because the water heats up during the day and releases the heat at night. There are also other things like a waterbed heater and heat mats that you could put beneath a shelf to just warm the area slightly. I know some people use frost cloths too. You can also use smudge pots with smokeless oil. There has to be some discussion about this somewhere on Dave's -- maybe in one of the other forums. Thanks for the compliment:-)

I love the show!! And am not going to pick a favorite, so there!! :-)

Sandy, I placed my Epi hybrids into the garage last winter. It goes down to about 40 degr F in there and it has only a panel of very small windows. So basically I put them to sleep for a few months, with only a a couple of minimal waterings. I took my plants outside at the beginning of April and they are all budding now. My stuff will not bloom for another couple of weeks but they all look fine.
NJ temps do go down into single digits F here in the Winter, this is just another way to hold the plants.

Hi Clare, thanks for more hints....yeah its hard to compare climates as everyone's is so different.....the warm water idea is a good one i think too..sometimes we do get a bout of below freezing temps but not always...temps can hover just above freezing - around 40F (4 or 5 Celsius)..for many days and is quite damp here too...

Hi Ruk,

now you are in a more colder climate...i was thinking about putting them into the garage too, that had crossed my mind...it can get as low as 40F in the garage but its not insulated and there are no windows in it either....will they survive without any natural light say from November/possibly December into around March?...if they can, then that would be a good option also.....

thanks to both of you for your great suggestions!

Sandy

This is blooming tonight-not quite open-about 5" across now.
It's a beauty.
Peggy

what a pretty colour Peggy....from the pic, looks like there is a bit of purple in the centre too..