It's Beginning to look a Lot like Christmas Cactus

The Schlumbergera cuttings taken back in the early fall are in bud. My original Christmas Cactus bought after Christmas some years back is in full bloom.

Purchased at a big box store after Christmas at a bargain.

Repotted twice since and gave up six cuttings last summer.

 

White Christmas Cactus is so elegant.

This was a recent cutting from Ms. Trudy.

The others have not bloomed but are in bud.

I can hardly wait to see the colors.

 

These next three pics are of rooted cuttings that I stuck in a

grapevine ball full of moss along with some Graptopetalum

and some resurrection fern with a bromeliad on top.

A better view of Graptopetalum and the bromeliad.

From yet another direction. This gets daily watering while

we are having a warm spell. It sits atop a closed pot.

 

The Christmas flowers are spacing themselves for a long season.

There are Schlumbergeras that are just coming into bud.

An Amaryllis is almost ready to bloom, another just peeking

out of the bulb. Another that I hope to see before Spring

is from last year and I'm hoping for rebloom.

 

Also in the greenhouse are Pineapple sage in bloom, four nice

cuttings from Susie to whom I gave S. elegans before mine died

and she's returned the favor. Firecracker Fern has bloomed

nonstop since it came inside, and red begonias. All are festive.

 

One last peek at the White Christmas Cactus.

By Christmas we should have white Kalanchoe blooms.

 

 

 

Thinking Outside the Pot

Not all house plants must grow in a traditional pot. Steve Asbell introduced me to the idea of plants growing in a grapevine ball.

My homemade grapevine balls are loose and clumsy. I expect the plants to eventually take over so the vehicle is simply a tool. Grapevines are abundant here, so maybe my wrapping technique will improve. Enough space has to remain so that long-cut moss and the root balls of plants can be inserted. Rooting cuttings in a tray with a long thing root bed seems ideal.

I used what is at hand here: Christmas Cactus cuttings, Graptopetalum rosettes and Resurrection fern, topped off with a Bromeliad pup.

 

Hanging is not convenient, so I set the sphere in an old clay pot with lots of patina. The pot sits in a bonsai saucer or on a tray of pebbles, depending on my whim as I search for an ideal spot.

 

 

Later I set the ball into the top of a decorative cache pot.

See at the bottom, there's a frond of Resurrection Fern?

 

Resurrection Fern turned out not ideal for a Moss Ball.

 

This fern likes a constantly moist surface and plenty of humidity. Once it dries out, I have a hard time 'resurrecting' it. Next I will try some kind of dainty fern that came up in the Greenhouse floor.

 

Graptopetalum makes a good contrast to finer foliage. Its only drawback is that it tends to get leggy. I just break off and restick when it begins to hang on a long stem.

Only the fern at the bottom retains enough water

 to stay green and not all of it looks hydrated.

 

I can hardly wait for the Schlumbergera to

open, six weeks before Christmas.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

How to Cram the most Plants in the Smallest Space

Time to think of cuttings and plants for the winter garden, inside. I took 36 Pentas cuttings this morning, placing each in a container of warm water and being sure that each stem had a node that would be covered with soil.

Some of Pentas cuttings at bottom.

On the list yet to cut and stick are Persian Shield, White Shrimp Plant, Porterweed and maybe some Purple Heart. Setcreasea looks good in containers with Persian Shield in the winter.

I've been looking at Steve Asbell's Rainforest Drops which are smallish grapevine balls with Rhipsalis cuttings and other plant delights which can hang. I couldn't decide on a good place for hanging balls, but decided to experiment with a larger grapevine structure that could sit on a pot.

My obsession with not wasting plants and my tendency to propagate more left me with an abundance of suitable plants: New bromeliads -- when I potted the 2 pups that my old bromeliad had, the mother plant promptly produced 4 more. An abundance of graptopetalum resulted from saving every little leave that broke off. Bits of resurrection fern from a pecan limb that broke, collected in an old dinner plate grew into a solid mass of fern bits, bright green after rain.

A half dozen little pieces of Christmas cactus rooted. I have 5 new good-sized Schlumbergera cuttings in assorted colors and an Easter Cactus in addition  to my original Christmas cactus, all rooted and growing.

I managed to fashion some circles of grapevine I'd dried into an 8" ball shape and stuffed it with sphagnum moss, tucking in the 6 little Christmas cactus cuttings from my original plants, a couple of graptopetalum, 4 good pieces of fern and a bromeliad to crown the top.

The grapevine ball sits atop a mossy pot.

 

The finished vine ball with epiphytes.

One pot will hold the equivalent of a dozen

single containers.

 

There are still five Bromeliads to find spaces for, a flat of graptophylum, the new Christmas Cacti that may not even bloom this season, and a large number of cuttings and plants that are a must to get potted up before frost.

 

 

 

Red and White Begonias, 2011.

Begonia cuttings did so well last year. A single pot of red looks so festive near Christmas and I loved the whites last year.

 

Last spring I made a list of hits and misses from the previous season in the greenhouse.

Later I'll list them on the Seedscatterer blog while I decide what comes in this winter.

 

Taking part in the Friday Fertilizer meme at Tootsie's.