The Care and Keeping of the Christmas Cactus

It's time for Mr. Mersy and I to put a bit of greenery around the house.  Even though there's no snow on the ground yet (we've only reached freezing once or twice so far this year), we're missing our escapes to the coast and the mountains.  There's that smell of fallen pine needles and wet soil and grass that's gone to seed and still, marshy water that makes everything right in the world.

My sister-in-law told me about an amazing house plant called a Christmas Cactus that lives quite contentedly indoors for up to a century or more if treated properly.  There's a good chance that it could outlive me and my not-so-green thumb!  Turns out, though, that it's neither a cactus nor of the Christmas variety.  It's a rainforest plant that is actually a Thanksgiving Cactus, although unscrupulous plant purveyors in Queens change it's name around the holidays.  (You can differentiate the Easter, Thanksgiving, and Christmas cacti by the shape of their leaf edges).  

And, coincidence of coincidences, the day that I was able to find one of these amazing plants for sale in Flushing was the same day that I discovered that I'd been sitting next to one at work for almost a year without even knowing it!  The one with the red blossoms is the one that Mr. Mersy and I have adopted, and the one with the white blossoms is at work.  Aren't they both gorgeous?

I'll do my best to take good care of this little guy, and hopefully my grandchildren will think of me fondly when they water him a hundred years from now!

And around town, there's another traditional Christmas plant that has started to crop up.  Trucks filled with white and purple cabbages have started to pull up in front of all the apartment buildings in Queens, so that men with spades can jump out and plant Christmas cabbages that will outlast the cold weather and thrive until spring.  I've seen lots and lots (and lots) of strange things since coming to NYC, but Christmas cabbages are my absolute favorite!

Hope that you are warm and surrounded by cactuses and cabbages!

Lots of love,

~Mersydotes