That's so cool Cindee - you don't have to go to Home Depot to get your Poinsettias!

Now, that's awesome, Cindee! I've read that these plants originate in Mexico, so your climate is probably about perfect for growing and blooming them naturally! I can't wait to see them around Christmas!

Thanks all for admiring, here's some more photos as it transitions. Where is Ninecrow my pal?? Hey girl, look at them turning colors just for you m'dear! I took photos with the rain glistening on the petals. First The group then each of the 3 different large plants starting with palest to deepest. Interesting the darker leaf plants are reddening faster than the palest green in the cluster. Hopefully this rain will bring more cool temps to Morf the leaves into red flower petals. It is truly a joy to watch the process from green to red.....Enjoy!
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WOW I just previewed the photos, don't they just knock yer sox off!! The detail and color is smashing!! LOL I love em and I get to see them taking up most of the open space out my living room window as I swill red wine, cinnamon candles burning, pumpkin pies baking and playing footsie with my HEALTHY and handsome, HUBBY!! I am such a smooshe on red wine!!!
God bless ya all and Happy Happy Thanksgiving!!

Oh, Cindee! Nothing makes me happier than hearing the happiness in your voice, so to speak... I can feel it in your words! I'm so glad your guy has a clean bill of health, and I'm so happy you are able to dance with joy! You've both been granted a second chance... and I know you're making the absolute most of it! :-)

Those Poinsettias are truly gorgeous! I haven't had a potted one in a long time... but they never do good for me, anyway... so it's just as well. What a treat to be able to see the colors change from a healthy green to a Christmas red!

We stopped in at the local garden center today... the nice one, Prairie Gardens... and they had tables of lovely Poinsettias... in a rainbow of colors! From light lime green to white and reds, and deep greens... a beautiful sight! They also had these adorable little Poinsettias in topiary form! They had the cutest red ruffled flowers on top, sort of in a small rounded form, difficult to describe. I've never seen anything like it! Of course, they were too rich for my pocketbook, but so interesting! I didn't think of it, but I should have taken a photo with my phone! Oh well... I guess that's just part of being blonde and ditzy! ;-)

As a side note, Psyche bought me a new bulb for an early Christmas present... a new Sweet Lilian! I can't wait to see it bloom! I loved the first one I got the year before last!

Oh... and before I forget... I took some nice lush cuttings from that variegated mint plant you liked so much! We're supposed to be getting low temperatures tonight, and I wanted to clip it before it got hit by frost. I'll get those wrapped up and on their way to you asap!

Gorgeous pictures, Cindee! Just lovely!

Happy Thanksgiving to you and Dennis, and to your families... and Blessings to you, as well!

We all have so much to be thankful for... I'm thankful for my wonderful family, of course... and all the good things that have happened over the course of the past year... and I'm very thankful for my Hippi Friends, every single one of you! So many of you have touched my life with such generosity... I can't begin to tell you how much that means to me. :-)

Happy Thanksgiving, All!

Cindee, those are just gorgeous!!!
You are such a romantic gal, enjoy your families & friends.

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Jan

Hey Jodi, I had those poffy Poinsettias one year too, can't remember their name...Rozettes or something like that. They didn't last very long, though. There are a whole mess of Poinsettia varieties now. HD is offering them for 99cents tomorrow, I may go get some just to throw in the circle bed until the Amaryllis blooms kick in. Yeah Jan, I am a real mushball, I know...love ya guys! Hope Ninecrow stops by to see them getting ripe. We are going down in the 40s and that should edge some more red in. Plus, my Christmas cactus are all getting buds too!

They would look good in the circle bed, Cindee!

Well, once again, my Christmas Cactus ain't looking good. I don't know what I'm doing wrong. I got that little one last year... it's supposed to have white flowers, but it dropped every bud once I got it home. And it has dropped almost every leaf, too. It's alive... but it sure isn't pretty! I've been keeping it on the dry side... maybe it's not getting enough light.

Jodi, I do nothing special for mine, you could actually call it abuse! I have a few pots of various colors in baskets and planters all around. On the patio plant shelf i have 5-6 small plants among the crown of thorns. They endure torrential downpours in the rainy season and dreadful drought in the summer heat and still they just bloom for me.
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Same goes for Chaz basket o'cacti under the pergola...buds up
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and hopefully it will put on the magnificient PINK display it did last winter. Buds are teensy yet on these...but plentiful!
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Treat them like orchids, Jodi, ignore and abuse and they will bloom!

Wow, Cindee! Your poinsettias are gorgeous! I have a point I'm bringing into bloom. My Thanksgiving cactus are almost done blooming. I don't have any xmas cactus. Great job!

Theresa

THANK YOU Cindee!!!!

Have had NO Internet So have only Just Seen this Post... Please Keep Posting
NC

Wow, love the poinsettias. They are really looking great!

Jodi, I have found I was keeping my Christmas Cactus way too dry too . Apparently they grow in or under trees in the rain forest. I left mine out on a table on the deck through some torrential rains (Actually had forgotten them!) and the ratty foliage is suddenly plumped up and growing like mad and they look wonderful! NO buds yet, but the ugly plants now look healthy and I think the buds will come when we have some cooler nights to set them. I find they usually set buds closest to the cold windows and who cares WHEN they bloom as long as they will.

I may just have to go looking for one of the unusual poinsettias and stick it in the middle of the cactus on top of the dog's crates in the family room to get some color there. Surely everyone has dog crates in the family room to decorate?!

We broght Shannie down to our son's house where she has totally changed personality into a sweet little baby girl instead of the beagle bully and brat she is at home. INteresting!

Dog crates have been part of my decor for years! Draped with tablecloths, they make nice end tables, coffee tables, or any other piece of furniture you need! I have them stacked three high... the upper two are smaller travel crates, and the bottom one is Maia's. Next to that is Huck's large crate, which is split open right now and filled with puppies!

I store extra dog blankets and leather gear in the travel crates, and the dogs even have their very own travel bag, complete with fresh towels, bowls, toys, leashes, and clean blankets. And we travel with gallons of water from home, our homemade feed, treats, etc... it's amazing what we dog lovers do!

We don't decorate for Christmas... we spend it with the kids... but if we did, I'd be getting out the Christmas tablecloths and things to put on the crates!

Thanks for the tips, Lizalily... I can't figure it out... I tried keeping the Christmas cactus a little more moist, and it dropped its leaves... so I've been keeping it drier. I don't have windowsill space for it, but it's not too far from the lights and window. Maybe I'll trade it out with a pot from the south windowsill in the stairwell... it's cooler there. Maybe that will help.

I think my Christmas cactus boomed this year so rich because I did put it in the cold stairwell/hallway here. On almost every segment where blossoms, perhaps yours will flower over Christmas if the difference in temperature is wide enough.
I keep mine relatively dry, but my succulents are also in half gravel half cocofibre where the water absorption is higher. I guess I'll try your porous medium with added gravel here too.

Here is a good site on Christmas CActus care.

http://www.humeseeds.com/xmasccts.htm

Draven is 7!!!!! And Prowl 3, both in full colour Now

Jodik, I have learned that some of the cultivars of holiday cactus like different amounts of light, and that some are downright snotty about it. Also cold temps. If your is by a cold window, then it might be unhappy for that reason. I found the true Christmastime blooming cactus likes a lot more light and is a lot more tolerant of cold than the Thanksgiving cactus. I see that cindea has some of each. Also, they do like water more than other cacti, as they come from the jungle after all. I think they grow there more like bromeliads on the duff that collects on trees. I've never had one drop buds when I move it, and I put what ever is blooming where it can be seen and then when it is done I put it where it gets the best light for its peculiarities.

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Thanks!

Mine is a white flowered plant... at least, the buds were white before they all dropped!

Right now, I've got in a south facing window. It's not really cold, but it is lower in temperature than the rest of our apartment.

Mostly what I notice is that when holiday cacti are colder, then they are more prone to root rot. It's almost better for them to be dry if the soil is cold. I tend to water mine on the warm sunny days, and not when it is gray and cold. It is often colder by a window than you think. You could test this with a small thermometer. Here are more of the ones that I have. Notice that the lighter one on the right has leaves that are sort of purple. I think they get this when they are too cold. The pink and white one on the left is also sensitive to cold.

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Here's my dilemma... I've tried a warm, bright area... a cooler area with good light... a warm area with indirect light... and now, I'm at a loss. It still hasn't put out any new growth, and keeps losing the leaves it has.

I only water it when the medium is dry... so it's not too moist and not too dry.

I don't know what else to try! I just can't seem to make this poor thing happy!

So- does the plant seem to be tight in the pot, like the roots are good? Is it growing aerial roots from the joints of each segment? Sometimes the plants do this if they are kept too dry, and the air is humid. Does it seem to be pot-bound with roots coming out the bottom? What kind of medium is it in? How often does the medium dry out? If the roots are rotting, then it won't take up any water and the medium dries out only from evap. into the air which takes longer. Does it look dessicated? Sometimes if the roots get really dry, then they are damaged. Then when you do water, they rot. This sounds like the kind of thing that can happen at the store, and then the purchaser has to deal with the result later. How long did the plant spend in each of these places? Its really hard to get a picture of what is going on from words alone.

Did you look at the site mentioned by lizalily? Here is a quote: "One of the most frustrating things that can happen to Christmas cactus is after the flower buds have developed they drop off the plant. Bud drop can be caused by any one of several different conditions. Usually it's because of over-watering, lack of humidity or insufficient light."

I think I can grow this plant because my house is cool all winter, and then hot all summer. Getting them to bloom is pretty easy as there is such a difference in light between summer and winter. I think everyone's holiday cactus blooms and reblooms here, even the one I saw in the hardware store which was in a place of indirect light at best, and up high right by the door where it could get a cold draft to boot. So go figure.

My apartment maintains a temperature of approximately 68-72 degrees all year... as a second floor apartment, it has to have AC in summer, or we'd bake! The humidity is very low, however, and there's very little I can do to change that.

I group orchids together in large saucers to keep more humidity, and I mist frequently. A room humidifier is not in my budget.

The Christmas cactus is in regular potting soil... the plant is firm in the pot. Since I water based on who needs it and who doesn't, I couldn't really say how many days the soil maintains moisture. But if I had to guess, I'd say it gets watered maybe once a week, or a week and a few days... whenever it feels dry.

It gets fed the same as everyone else... with a diluted solution of all purpose liquid fertilizer, and I add micro-nutrients.

I got it about a year and a half ago, or thereabouts, from Lowe's. It was in a 3" pot, looked fairly healthy, and had buds. Shortly after bringing it home, all the buds dropped. Then, one by one, the leaf segments began to drop, too. It's rather short and hideous looking at the moment, and I keep thinking I should just dump it and use the room for a bulb!

The thing is... many years ago, I had several of these plants... the ones with red and pink flowers... and they grew and bloomed just fine with total neglect! At that point in time, I knew little about how to properly care for each plant type, and I watered when it crossed my mind that if I didn't, everyone would die! I was a young amateur at that point!

I've tried just about every situation I can think of... and the poor thing just sits here. Our apartment temperature fluctuates in winter due to the type of heat we have, but it's not that drastic of a fluctuation. I wouldn't say it's cool, though.

Thanks for trying so hard to help! I appreciate the trouble you've gone through. I'm going to check its roots, put it in fresh medium, and if it doesn't survive, I'll replace it with a bulb. I think it's just one of those plant types that I can't seem to grow well... like African Violets!

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Notice how the blooms turn to face the brightest light.. This is the Poinsettia I planted for my mother three years ago.
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Notice how the blooms turn to face the brightest light.. This is the Poinsettia I planted for my mother three years ago.
Del

VERY Nice npublici
THANK You For sharing!!!
NC

Beautiful Poinsettia! I almost wish they grew here... that would make a lovely and colorful shrub for our gardens!