Loom Room Blooms

Day 38: A certain mischievous varmint's propensity for getting into things he's not supposed to get into means that my Christmas cacti remain in the Loom Room window rather than being brought out and placed on the mantel when they come into bloom. Strangely enough, he heeds my admonitions of "No, not for kitties!" and "Off! Curl up in your little weaver's box and be good!" when I'm back there, although once he's had his nap and wakes up again, I may have to repeat myself. In actuality, I haven't been weaving much lately. I have a very boring project on Max at the moment, and I've been otherwise occupied with finishing up some Christmas gifts, quilting and embroidering, all of which are crafts I do in the living room. I nearly missed the picotee cactus' flowering period, but it alerted me to the buds coming on the yellow and white ones shown here. The white is particularly lush this year. Maybe I should take its hint and finish up those monotonous placemats while it's in full splendor.

In Sync

Day 21: If there was an Olympic competition for synchronized blooming, my cacti would have taken silver, only missing gold because Picotee didn't quite stick the landing. Evidently a little fatigued by putting on a spectacular show, the pink-edged flowers were already starting to fade a little by the time White was in peak form. All three are sitting in my kitchen window at this point, perhaps not completely safe from prying paws, but Somebody has gotten so lardy, I can hear when he jumps up on the counter. He doesn't do it often now, but for a while, I thought I was going to have to find homes for my houseplants. At any rate, my team of cacti are performing excellently this year, albeit a bit early for the holidays.

Ghost Of Christmas Past

Day 121: I have never been able to determine what triggers the second flush of blooms on my "Christmas" cacti, nor the timing or quality of it. Sometimes it comes in early January, sometimes well into February, and sometimes not at all. The one thing which seems to be consistent is that if the second round of flowers is scant on one plant, it will be scant on the others. Likewise, if it is abundant on one, the others will likely also have more blossoms. This is a good year. In fact, both White and Picotee have more buds than they had in December. When they decide to go on parade, I relocate them to the place of honour on the mantel, although these days, I'm spending more time in the Loom Room than I am in the living room.

Picotee Beauty

Day 46: Every year at this time, I'm faced with a problem. I don't think it's proper to play favourites in any event, but when my Christmas cacti start blooming, I lean toward whichever one is flowering at the moment. Yellow has gone through its cycle now, and White is still open. Picotee just popped and...well, there's that dilemma I was talking about. Certainly, Picotee is the showiest of the three, but Yellow is the rarest, and White is both unusual and dramatic. And, if I want to be perfectly honest here, I do have a couple of the standard colours which, although they're brought out to the living room for show, never draw quite the same admiration as my three "best kids."

Sneaky Bloomers

Day 30: Sneaky! That's what these two are. The fault was purely mine, though. I didn't rotate them as regularly as I should have during the summer, so when they came into bloom, it was on the sides facing the window. You can also see that Yellow got a little more sun exposure than usual, hence the pink tinge to part of the flower. My "Christmas" cacti live in the Loom Room, the only window space I have for them, and it's a small one. They're all crammed together on one shelf, so it's easy to miss burgeoning buds on the light-coloured ones. When I do notice that they're ready to bloom, they're moved to the place of honour on the fireplace mantel, but the body of the house is too warm for them to remain there for the rest of the year. For the best blooms, these plants require cooler nights, especially during the winter.

Playing Favourites

Day 50: As much as I love the picotee Christmas cactus' magenta-rimmed white flowers, it's the yellow one I can't resist calling my favourite. A reliable performer, it never fails to produce a flush of lemon-hued blooms in December, sometimes coming back for an encore in late January. My preference for it makes me feel a little ashamed of myself: no parent is supposed to have a favourite child (although most do, and won't admit it even to themselves). Picotee's glamour, while elegant and stylish, falls just short of outshining Yellow's brilliance to take top place. But not to worry. One succeeds the other, rendering the competition irrelevant.

Avalanche!

Day 41: For the most part, my Christmas cacti tend to bloom first on one side and then on the other due to the fact that I seldom rotate them on their shelf. I must have shifted this one a few times during the summer because it came on with a veritable avalanche of snow-white blossoms. It's one of my older plants. I keep all of them pruned back to save space so that they can all fit in the one small south-facing window available for horticulture. The Loom Room tends to be the coolest spot in the house during the winter despite its exposure, and the cooler nighttime temperatures help keep the blooms true to colour. If the plants are kept too warm, they may take on a pinkish cast. That said, my toes all too often develop a bluish tinge when I'm weaving in the wintertime.

'Tis The Season

Day 31: 'Tis the season! The procession of the Christmas cacti has begun, one by one emerging from loom-room purdah to sit in the place of honour on the fireplace mantel. Picotee is leading the parade with White not far behind. They spend the better part of the year in a south-facing window, getting water when I notice that they're starting to droop, generally being ignored in favour of the showy Hoyas putting on the ritz in the living room, but when their turn comes 'round, they're trotted out in sequence to show off their holiday clothes. The display will run for six to eight weeks with a possible encore in January from the earliest members of the troupe. Walmart may think the Christmas season starts two weeks before Hallowe'en, but at Crow's house, it has now officially begun.

Playing Favourites

Day 44: I suppose it depends on which one is in bloom, but I can never quite make up my mind which of my Christmas cacti I like best. Picotee (shown above) and Yellow definitely are in the forerunners, but White is so dainty and elegant, and the reds speak so well to the holidays with their festive flames that I cannot choose. All my plants have been with me for a decade or more. I prune them back radically after each flowering period so that I have space for them all. They spend most of the year in the small south window of my back bedroom, and are brought out to the living room one by one as they come into bud. When the flowers fade, they'll be moved back to their shelf where they can enjoy the cooler nighttime temperatures necessary to produce the best colour.

Zygorhipschlumberdopsis

Day 35: Don't get me started on the taxonomy of everyone's favourite holiday bloomers. It changes more often than you'd change your socks on a backpacking trip. I'm just going to call it "Zygorhipschlumberdopsis" and let it go at that. Nor is the common name particularly stable, or at least not if you listen to its many owners who report that their "Christmas" cactus is blooming at Thanksgiving and then again in time for an early Easter. Suffice to say that my white and yellow ones (shown together in the image above) are putting on a spectacular show this year, better than any in the last decade. Why? I suspect that our hot spell in June is in some part responsible, as is the fact that I haven't turned on the heat in the loom room yet this winter, and we've had some chilly nights. Ol' Zygorhipschlumberdopsis demands heat and drier soil in the summer months, and cooler temps when daylight hours shorten in order to be at its/their best. These two have migrated temporarily onto the fireplace mantle where I can enjoy them, and they'll be switched out with other colours as those come into bloom.