In May 2011, I, not knowing any better, bought an orange-blooming "Easter cactus" (Hatiora cv.1) at a garden center in Iowa City. And it looked like this.
It's grown much bigger since then, and although it loses segments from time to time, it's held together much better than the magenta-flowering one that I got in the mail a week after.2
I haven't been worrying about getting flowers, because I figured just keeping it alive was good enough for now. But about six weeks ago, I moved it into a larger pot, because it kept drying out and tipping over before it was in line to be watered again. And now, suddenly --
Three whole flower buds!3
Granted, they will probably drop off before they open, because that's how things seem to be going lately. But still -- it's almost enough to know that blooming is possible. Dare I even hope for actual flowers? It almost feels greedy.
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1 (Formerly Rhipsalidopsis, and still better known as Rhipsalidopsis, but my understanding is that Rhipsalidopsis has been moved into Hatiora now.)
2 The magenta one shattered badly once, after which I divided it into four pots. Of those four, none have grown much. One disintegrated completely. Another did okay for a while, but is in the process of disintegrating now. I'm not sure why there's been such a large difference between the two varieties; they got basically the same care to begin with.
3 The three other things that look like flower buds are just very young stem segments; they begin red and then age to green.
2 The magenta one shattered badly once, after which I divided it into four pots. Of those four, none have grown much. One disintegrated completely. Another did okay for a while, but is in the process of disintegrating now. I'm not sure why there's been such a large difference between the two varieties; they got basically the same care to begin with.
3 The three other things that look like flower buds are just very young stem segments; they begin red and then age to green.
1 comment:
Congrats on buds! Why dropping? If you will not move or turn the pot or change conditions - they will bloom. This plant doesn't like to change its light orientation once the buds are set. But I am sure you know it.
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