Over the years I have gathered quite a collection of Christmas cactus (botanically known as Schlumbergera x Buckleyior Zygocactus) plants, including red, hot pink, white, and peach bloom colors. I also have an Easter cactus (Hatiora gaertneri) that usually blooms in the middle of February, instead of at Easter. The Christmas cactus is a hardy plant that should last for years, and it seems to thrive on neglect, so it is a perfect plant for me.

For years my plants did well, putting on new leaves (which are really stems, the plant has adapted to a drier environment by loosing it’s leaves and using its leaf-looking stems for water storage and photosynthesis), but they rarely bloomed. This always bothered me, and I wondered what I was doing wrong that my plants never bloomed. I did a bit of research and found that the plants need either long periods of darkness, with no artificial light at all, or cooler nighttime temperatures in order to form flower buds.

The last few years I have taken all of my houseplants outdoors during the summer, putting them in a shady spot close to the water hose so I can water them frequently. I don’t bring them back into the house until the threat of a hard freeze, which can vary from late October to early November. This year the plants had buds showing even before I brought the plants indoors, and they are now almost bloomed out. I doubt that I will have one bloom left by Christmas!

Since I have had problems with keeping the buds from falling off before they bloom I did a bit of Internet research and found that I am probably watering the plants too much after they start blooming. But maybe I’m not watering enough! The information online has given me both reasons for the buds to fall off before blooming, so I need to decide whether to water them more or less.

You can find Christmas cactus plants easily this time of year. I have even seen them at the grocery store. If you decide to add a Christmas cactus to your houseplant collection, beautiful blooms and an interesting growth habit will reward you after the blooms have faded. With care, which is actually more like neglect, you should have a great houseplant for years to come.