Houseplants · Christmas Flowers The Cactus That Blooms in Winter (and Lives for Decades) How to water, place and time your Christmas cactus so it covers itself in flowers every December, and how to tell it apart from its Thanksgiving and Easter cousins. Some houseplants are bought for one season and forgotten. The Christmas cactus is the opposite. In many families it is the plant that grandma had on the windowsill, and the same plant (or a cutting of it) is still flowering 30 or 40 years later. In Germany it is called Weihnachtskaktus or Gliederkaktus, and it is one of the most loved winter-flowering plants in Europe. It is also one of the most misunderstood. People treat it like a desert cactus, give it full sun and almost no water, and then wonder why it never blooms. Or they move it around the house while it is full of buds, and all the buds fall off overnight. In this guide: what this plant really is, how to recognise the three "holiday cacti", the right ligh...
Practical growing guides, plant care tips, and seasonal advice for home gardeners of every experience level, from backyard beginners to seasoned green thumbs.