Red Easter cactus; a cutting from Solay

[lmartiny]

Its not Easter, but here is a pretty red bloom from a cutting I received from Solay (Cindy) last year. The plant has struggled. It has lost many new growths due to dry conditions. But it powers on!! I'm going to try to be a better steward to the plant. But it is quite pretty isn't it?

[kmarch]

Originally Posted by lmartiny

But it is quite pretty isn't it?

It sure is!

[Carole]

That looks like what I found in stores this year as "Spring Cactus." Had never seen one before so I had to try it. Blooms were pretty and brightened up my area at work but they only lasted a day.

[tansyflower]

My zygos (christmas cactus) are just starting to flower now, They do indeed brighten up the place, for such an easy care plant. I have six different colours now.

I am going to have a look around for some of your easter cactuses- I had two that I thought were easter cactus, but had really long flat segments. However, they got scale so badly, and I couldn't get rid of it, so I chucked them a couple of week ago.

[tangers40]

lovely! i just bought my first teeny "easter cactus" this past week, as a matter of fact! mine's pink. i've been doing well with my schlumbergera (tgiving cactuses) and i've been told these take similar care, so i figured why not? i think their blooms are interesting.

[psyc1210]

Lovely!

[E-Jag]

We've got a couple of very large (12 years old) christmas cactus which have hundreds of double/triple blooms every "winter." Wanting an orchid cactus like Fred has shown us. Yours look great! If I could get an orchid cactus and an easter cactus, I could have blooms year 'round - assuming they could handle the freaking heat here.

[solay]

Sorry for the late post. Lynn, that looks very pretty. Yours look better than the mother plant which is in full bloom now but has sun and cold damage.

[solay]

Here's a pic. of the mother plant in bloom now.

[Anitteb]

We have quite a large plant but it never blooms. Is that a light or temperature issue? It's either a Christmas or Easter variety.

[lmartiny]

Well, I lost my Easter Cactus cutting. Pooh!

[Ladyofthelakes]

Up here in the north we call the red ones Christmas. There is a beautiful salmon colored that blooms before Thanksgiving and the white ones are Easter. Course we do and say differently up here than most of the country.

I inherited my mothers plant, it never bloomed once for her. I summered it outside and it never stopped blooming for months on end. Loved it, but so did the slugs I guess.

[tangers40]

actually, bloom color has nothing to do with whether it's an "easter" or "thanksgiving" or "christmas" cactus. "easter" cactuses have a bloom like pictured in this thread, "tgiving" and "xmas" cactuses have a bloom like the one shown here. and then to tell the difference between "xmas" and "tgiving" cactuses, you have to compare the shape of the leaves...which gets complicated, from what i understand. anyway.

as for not blooming, i have read that plants in this general area are triggered to bloom by changes in light levels. a drop in temp at night certainly won't hurt, either.....that being said, i am having a ridiculously hard time getting 4 of my 5 to bloom this year for some reason....phal orchids aren't spiking, either. apparently none of my plants believe it's actually winter now