Monday, November 16, 2009

Pretty picture: Schlumbergera NOID flower

And now we come to #3 in the Schlumbergera blooming show this year. The first one, the pink-and-white one, is already basically over: there's one bud still on it, but it only ever produced three buds, so that show is nearly over. The 'Caribbean Dancer' will keep going for a while, though lately some of the buds have been falling off (because it's upset with me for trying to get a picture of it for the yearbook?). The third and final bloom is going to be another short-termer, but I'm at least happy that the plant did turn out to be sort of peach-colored after all.

For various reasons, the photo is kinda weird-looking, but the light orange here really is more or less the color. I was expecting pinker (it was supposed to be "salmon"), but don't mind this at all.

I wasn't sure about this, because during Christmas last year, I broke a piece off of one plant from work, which had "salmon" flowers, and I also brought home a chunk of plant that I'd found lying on the table, with unknown-colored flowers. When I planted them both, they both hung on for a while, but one of them eventually died. By the time this happened, I could no longer remember which was the peach/salmon one and which was the unknown one (they were both the same size, four segments, and I put them both in pots of the same size, shape, and color, so the bloom color was the only way to tell them apart), so until this actually bloomed, I knew I either had a peach/salmon one or a random other color, but wasn't sure which it was going to be.

I'll be watching for some discounted Schlumbergeras in the stores after Christmas: I'm all in favor of getting low-cost, easily-propagatable, relatively easy to grow plants that produce pretty flowers.


3 comments:

Hà Xuân said...

I have one schlumbergera that has pink blooms, like yours. When you find out its name, I'd love to have the ID, too.

Sujata said...

Hello, I am intrigued by Mr. Subjunctive's profile. And as of now i'm definitely going to be suspicious of anyone else online using the same handle.
Love the unusual 'salmon' colored flowers.

Nancy in Sun Lakes AZ said...

I used to flower schlumbergera in my cool(about 50° in winter) sun room in RI. They bloomed like crazy. Here in AZ, it's a study in frustration ... the air is just too dry. Anyway, your photo is absolutely wonderful with perfect lighting!