At least that's what it said on the tag. I bought two and now I don't know what to do with them. The bloomed flowers are dying and the buds are opening. That's a good thing about the buds. But what do I do with the dead blooms? Should I just pinch them off? Here, see this bloom that is all wilty, next to the one that's fresh looking. There are several more like that. Is the rationale for these plants the same as with other blooming plants....if you pinch the dead blooms it will stop the plant from flowing all its energy to the dead things, and encourage it to put more energy towards making new flowers and growing the plant?
I always pinch off the dead flowers Ronni for no other reason that they look unsightly. It's never done my plants any harm so go ahead and get rid of the faded ones.
I like that pale peach color! I checked on my Christmas Cacti that I tucked away into my brother's room (shhhhh... nobody tell him, okay?) And there's definitely a couple of blooms and what looks like the start of several more forming. I'm tickled at the thought of have them in bloom for Christmas.
Very pretty! TC (Thanksgiving cacti, Schlumbergera truncata) are self-sterile, so removing the spent blooms isn't necessary to prevent seed production, but removing them for aesthetic reasons is what I do too. When the days are short, the buds will form. Note that they are from tropical rainforests, not deserts. So don't let the 'cactus' nickname fool you into letting your plant get as dry as one would a cactus. While forming flowers especially, TC's don't appreciate that kind of drying. http://www.clemson.edu/extension/hgic/p ... c1554.html
You can call it whatever, stores certainly do. Botanically, it's S. truncata, the main thing to know. Apparently it's pedantic to differentiate between TC and CC, but there are 2 diff. plants. (CC = S. x buckleyii, if using both names.) http://plantsarethestrangestpeople.blog ... a-cvv.html
