Tuesday, November 20, 2012

THE THANKSGIVING CACTUS

 
This cactus came home with me right before last Christmas in full bloom.  I assumed it was a Christmas cactus.
 
It spent the summer on our front porch. A strong storm gust blew it off of my plant table and broke the top off of almost all of the stems and cracked the pot. (You can see the crack  if you look closely.)  I thought that the cactus would probably die.
 
I gathered the  broken off branches and put them into a pot with potting soil and a top layer of bird grit sand.  The bird grit sand layer was the only way I could get the leaf stems to stand upright and not just keel over and lay down flat when I watered it.
 
Woo Hoo!  It worked.  Not only did they root, but a few have tiny flower buds.  Maybe the baby plant will bloom for Christmas.
 
Anyway, it seems that here in my home, this is a Thanksgiving cactus.  When I brought it in from outside a couple of weeks ago, it was covered in small flower buds.  I thought that they would fall off with the changes in light and temperature, but look what happened.  Not exactly a traditional Thanksgiving color, but very pretty anyway. 

I put the little vintage Napco turkey there just for a slightly Thanksgiving effect.  (Check House of Hawthornes blog for more about Napco turkeys)  The cactus and turkey are sitting on an antique high chair that's been used in my family for generations. Repainted in another layer of white paint for every new baby.  Well, babies grow up, seasons come and go, and Thanksgiving seems to come along quicker every year.
 
Let's all count our Blessings
and
HAVE A HAPPY THANKSGIVING!
 




 


4 comments:

  1. Guauuu is very beatifor plant. Your cactus is very nice. Ha ppy thansgiving!!!

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  2. I used to have these..and I will be darned if I can recall why I don't have them anymore. Seems like we had a surprise freeze and I lost them. It was a long time ago. Your Chrismas Cactus is really gorgeous..

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  3. Hi, Persimmon...thanks for coming by today. Glad you got a giggle out of my post...I giggled to think that I could ever do anything CRAFTY...not a crafty bone in my body. But..I can operate a hot glue gun (along with burns, don'tchaknow).
    I noticed you had been in the same house 34 years...we have been in ours 40 years and we are about to move. The thought of going thru all this STUFF of 40 years collecting nearly throws me into panic mode. It will take us FOR.EVER. to get ready to move out of here. We are shooting for spring but doubt we will make it. :(
    I love your pretty cactus...gorgeous color.
    xo bj

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  4. A neighbor gave me one of these, I thought it was Christmas too, didn't know there was such a thing as a Thanksgiving cactus, It bloomed lovely, sometime back, I think a bit before Thanksgiving though. So very pretty!!

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