What do you call a 35 year old Christmas cactus?

[Fancy1959]

A monster is what I call it. I have hauled it from home to home, from hither and yawn, and actually had a start of it before I even got married. Once we had it in our home for the first 5 years my husband understood how much it meant to me and to eat carefully packed it up and moved it with the rest of our furnishings from home to home. Here's a picture and I hope you can tell how large this monstrous Christmas cactus is. I wish I would have thought to do this post several weeks back when the old Cactus was full of blooms because it truly was spectacular to look at. Enjoy. Fancy.

[bxrmom]

Beautiful! My great grandma had a cactus similar to this one (not as big) and bloomed very nice flowers. Thanks for sharing Fancy1959

Jessie

[carolek572 CommunityAmbassador]

You call it 'Wow'. I have one, probably just as old, but not as big!

[falalalala]

I was gonna say "Steve".

Those are gorgeous plants when they're in bloom!

[MarkUpnorth]

I've got a pair of x-mass cacti, each of a different color, big, but not as big as yours. They bloom way to much! At various times all year, and have been renamed Thanksgiving cactus, because that's when they start their peak complete bloom, with hundreds of flowers each. I've given away restarted fallen off clumps to friends. The trick is to keep a cool house. Ours goes down to 50 degrees all day and nite winter, only with bursts of heat before getting up in the a.m. and again around dinner. I also used to have a couple hundred plus collection of all different types when we lived in El Paso. (Sorry Trump, El Paso has never been a violent city, fact checkers all called that one out, as did I immediately having lived there with friends still there including a now retired homeland security admin officer, and for the past 30yrs, too close to Chicago). During the peak of the Cartel wars in Juarez, the border did not stop them from going after each other. Countries did not matter. Stray bullets flew into the El Paso from Mexico. The Cartel wars in Juarez faded there a few years after they started in Chicago! Now It's just gangs, mostly over drug turf. Anyway, the cactus were lined up row after row in South West windows of our home, of which many bloomed a lot. Hummingbirds kept trying to get to them, stopped by the windows. A couple of times one would get in as someone came or went through a nearby door! They are fast! My collection is now down to a handful, but if we move back to the southwest as we hope to someday, I know the nurseries in Tuscon specializing in growing cactus are still there!

[greaterexp]

Aren't they fabulous when in full bloom? Gorgeous!

[jimeka]

I bet it’s beautiful when in full bloom 💐

[kycmary]

I wish I could grow one like that but I don't have a place warm enough, or a window bright enough that's big enough on the right side of the house. Yours is pretty thou.

[ssdw1958]

It looks really good does it have big or small thorns ?

[mrsmike9]

Wow. That's huge! If it was in my house it would have been called "dead". I cannot keep plants alive.

[CalfeeChick CommunityAmbassador]

Fancy1959 I guess I missed your post when hubbs and I were sick about that time.. 35 yrs is a kid compared to mine. My mother got it when I was 16. so mine is

55 yrs old! I've really had to nurture it the last few years. I read somewhere their typical lifespan is 40 yrs, so we're both doing something right with them!