Christmas Flower

My Christmas Cactus is right on schedule to begin blooming for the holidays (it is actually an Thanksgiving Cactus, but that is another story). The blooms will begin opening in about a week, and they will continue opening through mid-January. Love how dependable this no-fuss houseplant is -- all it needs is a quick draining highly organic soilless mix and occasional watering.  

The flowers on the Christmas Cactus are starting to fully open now. Beautiful!

Your plant is beautiful!  I have had a Christmas cactus plant for over 3 years and when I bought it, it had blooms on it.  When it did not bloom the following year, I transplanted it to a larger pot as it looked pot bound.  The past two Christmas' I had buds that eventually fell off. This year it has gotten bigger and looks the healthiest but no blooms, just buds that fall off.  I have read different articles on the CC but not all agree on how to care for it. I can't figure out what I am doing wrong. Any suggestions.

Bobbi wrote:Your plant is beautiful!  I have had a Christmas cactus plant for over 3 years and when I bought it, it had blooms on it.  When it did not bloom the following year, I transplanted it to a larger pot as it looked pot bound.  The past two Christmas' I had buds that eventually fell off. This year it has gotten bigger and looks the healthiest but no blooms, just buds that fall off.  I have read different articles on the CC but not all agree on how to care for it. I can't figure out what I am doing wrong. Any suggestions.

Sorry you haven't had success with it blooming. That is one of the biggest problems/complaints about the plant. The plant is a little fussy about its environment when it comes to blooming, but once those conditions are met it blooms reliably for about 6 weeks every year. My mother had several varieties of Christmas Cactus, and one of them had belonged to her mother and was over 50 years old.

In order to trigger it for its bloom cycle, it likes to be warm during the day, but cooled down to 50ºF to 65ºFF at night, and it must have total darkness for 12 to 15 hours at night -- that is, if there is room light, or a street light shining through the windows it won't have total darkness. Once it starts to set buds, it does not like to be moved or disturbed, just an occasional watering.  If you don't have a place for the plant that has total darkness at night, you can put a paper bag over it for the 12 to 15 hours, but it must be uncovered during the daylight time.