This week one of our Schlumbergera bridgesii began to bloom. Last spring I had posted a poem
about Christmas Cactus and when one "chooses" to bloom. You can find it here.
I have just quit calling this beautiful blooming plant a Christmas Cactus. As soon as I do it doesn't bloom at the holiday season. This week we can call it the Thanksgiving Cactus. This plant decided since family was coming it would show off for this holiday. I noticed when googling information the name has even been changed on many sites to Holiday Cactus. That makes more sense to me. It takes away that feeling of failure when Christmas arrives and leaves and there are no showy buds opening. You can then hang onto the hope it will be on the schedule of another holiday. There is New Year's Day, Martin Luther King Day, Valentine's Day, President's Day and St. Patrick's Day and a few in between that the plant can coordinate with.
If you are a novice at growing this temperamental bloomer, just take care of it and let it be. It has a calendar all it's own! I tried the dark room at night, changing temperature, special food, and repotting. When I just left it and cared for it like any other plant it has been the healthiest.
I do have a theory though. I am obsessed with music for each season of the year. Perhaps each bloom cycle is driven by the music it hears. Did "Over the River and Through the Wood" and "We Gather Together" put it into bloom as I belted out these songs last week? This is a new plant so I can't do a scientific study, but when another one bloomed it was right at Easter. Did I sing " In Your Easter Bonnet" and "He Has Risen" more often last year around that plant?
Now that it is Christmas Music City at my house for the next four weeks, perhaps I will set up a control group and an experiemental group.
Ummmm.... just a theory.