It's beginning to look a lot like...

[Christmas cactus bloom; 7:30am, 11/15/07]

I dreamed it was snowing. I kept saying, It's not really snowing unless it stays on the dog's fur... unless it lasts more than two hours... unless it coats the steps... It's not cold enough to snow yet. Instead, we have light rain, 40ºF temperatures and strong gusts, with wind chill down to 30ºF. In other words, raw and damp.

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Schlumbergera is called Christmas cactus here in the north, flor de maio (May flower) in Brazil, where it's from. Clearly, the climates are different. I moved my plant to a spot in front of an east window in late September, along with a photo of my mom, and a couple of weeks ago it began blooming cheerily. The blooms are supposed to be set off when the plant spends half the day in sunlight and half in darkness, with cool temperatures. I inherited another couple of Schlumbergera plants in my office, one of which has a single bloom and a couple of buds. I think they get a lot more artificial light in the office and it's kept quite warm most of the time, so the conditions aren't ideal.

Meanwhile, the artificial blooming of commercial Christmas has already begun. Our Starbuck's cups have turned red with white snowflakes. You won't be able to step into a CVS for your shampoo without being accosted by Christmas music and aisles overflowing with ribbons and candies and other holiday paraphernalia. Who knows when we'll get snow this year (last year, we had very little). Aside from the driving hassles, a quieting blanket of snow is one of the non-artificial joys of the season, along with red berries on the shrubs, and Christmas cactus blooms.

Comments

[mm]

Nice picture, Leslee. Definitely a day for staying indoors here too.

[Leslee]

Thanks, mm. It's that time of year in the northern hemisphere.