Down the Garden Path: The Story of My Christmas Cactus.

This is my Christmas Cactus, and it has a unique backstory of how it arrived in this country.

Last summer, my husband did a side job, (he works in construction), and the owner of a house he was working on had this beautiful bushy Christmas Cactus. Hubby and I love plants of all kinds. We used to have fifty-two houseplants in our apartment when we first got married, so naturally he started talking about it to the homeowner. According to the owner, this cactus came to Canada after WW2. A male relative was fighting in Italy during WW2 and either found the plant there and brought back a piece, or was given a piece by a villager. The soldier tucked it carefully into his uniform and there it stayed. When the soldier returned, he potted up the piece and it’s been growing ever since.

The owner asked if Hubby wanted a piece, and of course he said yes! I was a little concerned at first. I’ve had Christmas Cacti before and they never seem to last, and as this little piece sat in a glass of water to root that fear came back. This little plant, part of a seventy-six year old plant had an incredible story, and I wanted to be able to tell people about it. It took a while; it’s a stubborn plant, but it rooted. Now this small cutting is thriving and I can hardly wait to see what colour the flowers will be. I’m keeping it on the kitchen table. It likes it there, so hopefully this holiday season we’ll have a beautiful centerpiece for our dinner.  

They Survived!

First, I want to thank everyone who sent me ideas on how to get rid of the ash from the woodstove. I’ve dumped more in the veggie garden and put some on my climbing roses. I still have a whole burn barrel full of it. I wonder what flowering plants and bushes like it.

Second, and very important—my two tropical plants survived the winter! Both my Christmas cactus and my Stag fern survived. This is a very exciting thing! For the last few years my green thumb has been black and just my looking at a houseplant would cause it to wilt and die. Husband has never had a black thumb. I’ve seen him bring back a plant that fell off a balcony and ¾ dead. Mind you, that was a Spider plant and it’s near impossible to kill off one of those.

The weather is staying warm here, and I’m itching to get out and do some gardening. We’re not going to have as many green peppers this year. Just one plant. The four we had last year produced so much that we couldn’t keep up, and everyone around here has gardens so we can’t give the stuff away. I was thinking about a road side stand with fresh veggies for the campers. We have two campgrounds nearby with piles of tourists. Another reason I don’t like to take walks. Some of these people are real city-slickers and seeing cows or sheep for the first time is a driving distraction. If you think I’m joking, then you haven’t lived out in the country.

Whoops, sorry, kinda got off topic there…
Anyway, like I said, with all the warm weather I’m just itching to get out. I wonder what kind of summer we’ll have?