Christmas Cactus

At Thanksgiving dinner I noticed my MIL's plant near her back window. It was so pretty and I hadn't seen it flower before. She told me it was a Christmas Cactus and that they are super easy to keep alive. I reminded her that this was me...the plant killer! She assured me I could keep one alive. When we set about getting our holiday lights, PK looked for a plant for me but didn't see one in a color I wanted. We got a cheap one via Amazon of all places. I was a skeptical to say the least, but it arrived healthy and with lots of buds on it.

Notice how the buds in the back look like a dark pink? When the plant was first delivered, we reported that we didn't get the right color. The lady assured us that when the blooms opened, they would be red. Sure enough, a week or so later, they started to open and turned a true Christmas red. 

This little guy was added to the festive fireplace decor for the holidays. I planned to re-pot it after Christmas when the flower pot selections were a bit better. However, I went to visit my mom earlier in December because she has to work on Christmas. She found out that I had started collecting Longaberger and was starting to keep house plants. She ran into the kitchen when we got back to the house and gave me a little basket with three pottery pots in it. Perfect! I potted it in this special hand-me down (not pictured). 

I have also discovered that I now have 11 living plants in my home!!!! Maybe I've gotten a bit better at this plant thing. I want to create a plant corner or wall in our home. We'll see how that goes...