Thursday, November 15, 2007

November Bloom Day...and I actually have blooms! Okay, they are houseplants, but that counts too! First my red Christmas cactus...man, I really enjoy these plants!And although this picture was taken a few weeks ago, my crown of thorns is still blooming happily in the house...awesome! And last but not least, the tangerine Christmas cactus still has a couple blooms left...yay!


Happy Bloom Day everybody!!

19 comments:

Kylee Baumle said...

Oooh, Lisa, your Christmas cactus is bee-yoo-tee-ful! I, too, have Crown of Thorns and last winter it bloomed all winter long. Gotta love that!

Unknown said...

Wow, I love that rich red color of the Christmas cactus. I just caved in and bought a crown of thorns on clearance at the garden center. (It's fine, it was just outgrowing its pot and they don't really bother with repotting when they're in these decorative pots.) Any advice on taking care of it in the house?

lisa said...

Kylee-Thanks!

Kim-I let my crown of thorns dry out between waterings, and it does fine in my east-facing window with just a.m. light. Good luck!

Carol Michel said...

Thank goodness we have the indoor plants to tide us over through the winter. My Christmas cactus are just setting buds, and my Crown of Thorns has a few little flowers on it, but I forgot to include it in my post.

Thanks for joining in again!
Carol at May Dreams Gardens

Yolanda Elizabet Heuzen said...

Happy blooms day to you too Lisa and what gorgeous blooms you have. That tangerine Christmas cactus is real pretty, I've never seen one before in that colour. BTW my blooms are up too if you're interested. ;-)

lisa said...

Carol-Yea, between houseplants and reading blogs in warmer climates, winter doesn't seem so bad.

Yolanda-Thank you! I'd never had a tangerine Christmas cactus, and getting it free from my son's girlfriend makes it that much better! I am absolutely interested in your blooms...I'm heading to your blog now!

Phillip Oliver said...

I inherited a Crown of Thorns plant a few years ago and it is quite large. I'm wondering if it can be pruned? I've had it out on my patio all summer and I've now brought it to overwinter at the library where I work. It is getting too big to move and the thorns are vicious. I also had to remove a lot of dead growth underneath. I'd like to prune it drastically next spring - is that okay? I'm not very good with houseplants.

Annie in Austin said...

The crown of thorns looks pretty cool - is getting it to bloom sort of tricky? Is it one of those plants that give you get a sense of triumph if you can accomplish a rebloom?

Your tangerine and red Christmas cactus are both beautiful, Lisa. I have a couple which look like they're setting buds... they really do brighten the inside of the house when frost has hit outside!

Happy Blooming day!

Annie at the Transplantable Rose

lisa said...

Phillip-Great question! I didn't know, but I found this link, and this one too. Very informative!

Annie-See the above links, but I did nothing at all and it bloomed, so I'm not sure..."lazy luck" I guess ;-) I love my houseplants too, they really DO help me ease into winter....happy Bloom Day to you, too!

Unknown said...

(note to Philip, if he returns: I had to dig out & pull off some dead leaves on the crown of thorns that I rescued from the clearance section... and holding the thorny stems with one of those meat tongs that has the wire bend into curved triangles at the ends worked wonderfully.)

Lisa, I would give you the same tip... but darn it, I don't see anything dead or dying or in need of pruning in yours! lol. Thanks for the tips--sounds like I'm putting it in the right place.

Ki said...

Hey your Christmas cactus is mixed up. It should be called Thanksgiving cactus instead. Our Xmas cactus is just setting small buds and looks to be on time for a Christmas blooming. First time that's happening as the timing is usually off by a month either way. The dainty Crown of thorns flowers look pretty neat too.

Anonymous said...

The COT and the tangerine CC look really nice together.

David (Snappy) said...

Hi Lisa,I never heard of the Crown of Thorns before.Love the Christmas Cactus (hence my own posts on my blog).
All my plants are house plants technically lol.Only for this week then its garden time!

lisa said...

Kim-I just love it when a houseplant gets all happy without special treatment from me! I was shocked to read at one of those links that somone had a 30 year old, ten foot high crown of thorns...I mean...wow!

Ki-Mine are "Thanksgiving cactus" nearly every year, although last year my yellow-bloomer was a Halloween cactus! This year, however, it's the third to bloom of my five varieties, just now coming out.

Mr Brownthumb-Thank you! I think so, too!

Snappy-I am so happy for you, getting a spot of earth all your own! Crown of thorns IS neat, but as you can see from the thorns, it may not always "play nice" with the other houseplants! ;-)

Phillip Oliver said...

Lisa, thanks for the link, they were helpful. And thank you Blackswamp Girl, for the tip.

lisa said...

Anytime, Phillip!

Natural Louisville said...

Thanks for the tip on turning cats off to houseplants ... my cats are very naughty and untrainable, but I'll keep searching cyberspace. For the moment, they are ignoring the plant.

I LOVE your Christmas cactus blooms. My mother had one of these plants when I was a little girl (many many years ago!) and kept it hanging over the bathtub, so when I bathed it was like being in some tropical garden ... nice memory!

lisa said...

Green Panther-Wow, that's a cool memory, and I never would have thought to hang one of these over the tub! As for your cats, I found a couple things: this one uses a blast of air, and this one is a bad-tasting spray that you can use indoors. Hope it helps!

Natural Louisville said...

The plant-over-tub idea wouldn't work out in any apartment I ever had, but when I was young our bathroom had a clawfoot tub and a window. I'd like to have a plant-friendly bathroom again someday, nosy neighbors be damned.

The ill-tasting spray looks promising. I've tried to use a water bottle as a deterrent for my cats -- one of them looks all over to see where the water came from, without flinching. My little pride is sweet, but not always the brightest ... Thanks again for your tips!!