Christmas cactuses that bloom on their own timelines

Earlier this month, I shared instructions for caring for traditional holiday plants, including the much-beloved Christmas cactus. The tedious, somewhat inconvenient directions I provided proved to be too much — and unnecessary — for some readers, who wrote to me in droves to tell of blooming successes without the hassle.

To be clear, my instructions, were specified “to guarantee a holiday show,” which would ensure blooms for the holidays, not blooms in general. For many, Christmas cactuses are as much a part of their holiday décor and table settings as, say, poinsettias, menorahs or wreaths. And, yes, to guarantee a timely colorful show from the plants, the whole in-and-out-of-the-closet routine I described is necessary, though it doesn't account for luck.

However, Christmas cactus will bloom fairly reliably — albeit not specifically on Christmas — as long as its kept in a cool part of the house and deprived on sunlight for 13 hours a day, which isn’t that difficult to do, even by a window, since the sun typically isn’t shining between 5 p.m. and 6 a.m. during winter, anyway.

Giving your plant a summer vacation outdoors and bringing it back indoors before frost — in early October — then placing it undisturbed in a cool room before moving it (when the first flower opens) should be enough to ensure the plant will bloom. However, flowering might happen around Thanksgiving, New Year’s Day or even Valentine’s Day.

If you want blooms for Christmas, plants must have exposure to that period of darkness for precisely eight to 10 weeks prior (blooming typically lasts for at least a couple of weeks.) Missing even one day could delay the show.

Now that I’ve cleared that up, here are some Christmas cactuses that have been allowed to bloom on their own timeline.

“I read with some chuckling your column today about the fussy, demanding Christmas cactus,” writes Blue Point’s Suzanne Jones of her 50-year-old plant, which “thrives on benign neglect in a south-facing basement window.” When it was new, she says, “I was determined to treat it exactly as you described: Each fall it went into a closet, out during the day, back into the closet at night, misted when necessary, fertilized, repotted, etc.”

But “that got really old, really fast [and] now [it] goes outside in the spring, inside in the fall, and hasn’t seen the inside of a closet or a new pot in years. Every year, without fail, I am treated to a beautiful display of flowers from mid-December on.”

Tracy Meyers of Lindenhurst, who reports her plants bloom “at least three times a year,” had a similar reaction: “I recently read your article in Newsday about how to take care of a Christmas cactus. I have to say that I did chuckle a little bit. I have three plants in my home, and I have to tell you that I do nothing to them. I try to water them once a week or when I remember. They are in three different areas in my home where the sun beats right on them.”

Huntington's John Christina, a self-described “vintage gardener” who not only grows but propagates and cross pollinates his Christmas cactuses, says he keeps his plants facing “the sunny south direction in front of my sliding glass doors in the kitchen all year long.” He waters once a week, and “they produce blossoms from October to Easter with ease.”

“My Christmas cactus is 45 years old,” writes Barbara Rettaliata of Bay Shore, who received her supermarket-purchased plant as a housewarming gift. “I never move it, and water [only] when I think of it! Sometimes less is better!”