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12.12.2023 - 11:55 / houseandgarden.co.uk / Hazel Sillver
White Christmas Cactus, £11.99 from Hortology
Possessing more character than poinsettia, but producing just as much punchy colour during the festive period, the Christmas cactus (Schlumbergera x buckleyi) is a much-loved houseplant. It has a very particular seasonal routine, but once this has been grasped, it is an easy plant to grow.
The genus is said to have been named after French botanist Frédéric Schlumberger, who had a collection of cacti at his château near Rouen in the 19th century. There are seven species of Schlumbergera, which hail from the Serra do Mar (sea's ridge) and Serra da Mantiqueira (weeping mountains) regions of coastal southeast Brazil. The latter is known as weeping because it has so many springs, streams, and waterfalls and the air is usually damp with mist. Unlike most cacti, Schlumbergera are epiphytic and epilithic (grow on trees or rocks) and enjoy indirect light, humidity, and relatively cooler temperatures at heights of 700 to 2,100 metres (2,300 to 6,900 feet). They are pollinated by hummingbirds, which are attracted to the bright colours of the flowers.
The winter-flowering Christmas cactus (S. x buckleyi) is supposedly the offspring of the autumn-flowering S. truncata and the spring-flowering S. russelliana; though some experts believe that a natural hybrid, rather than S. russelliana, was the parent. The cross was made in London at Rollisson's nursery in Tooting in the 1840s by Wilbraham Buckley, and the resulting flowers were a neon shade of hot purple-pink. Today, there are some 1,400 cultivars of Christmas cactus with attractive red, pale pink, purple-pink, and white forms available, as well as orange, yellow, and two-tone varieties.
When young, the flat stems – which are linked together
How to Grow and Care for Chinese Money Plants Pilea peperomioides
Ric rac cactus is a fast-growing and easy to care for plant, making it ideal for beginners. It’s durable and can survive a good amount of neglect too.
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Apricot (Prunus armeniaca) trees produce delicious fruit in summer and growing your own means the fruit can be enjoyed when they are sweet and meltingly ripe, unlike shop-bought fruit, which must be harvested early to be transported while firm. Apricot trees can be grown successfully outside in warmer parts of the UK, notably the south-east of England. Elsewhere, because the beautiful pink blossom is borne in early spring and is therefore liable to frost damage, only grow apricots in large pots and keep under cover for the colder months. When planted in the right conditions, an apricot tree should start producing fruit within two or three years and live for decades.
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Feeding your Christmas Cactus correctly is the key to ensuring its vibrant blooms appear for a long time, year after year.
It won’t be a surprise if I say the many garden visits were the highlight of my trip last April to the Côte d’Azur. All were enjoyable and fascinating, but one stood out for me. In Le Jardin Serre de la Madone, Menton, I discovered a terraced garden carved into old farming land by Lawrence Johnston in the 1920s. Already the heir to Hidcote Manor in the Cotswolds, shortly before commencing his masterpiece Johnston had been so seriously injured in WW1 he’d been left for dead.
A fishbone cactus is easy to care for, durable, and fast-growing which makes it ideal for beginners.
This isn’t much of a secret, but Tan France’s generosity knows no limits. He’s provided several lifetimes’ worth of fashion and life advice through his work on eight seasons of Queer Eye (with the newest set to premiere in January) and Next in Fashion, the competition show he hosts with Gigi Hadid. But his taste extends beyond closets—and it shows in every corner of his home.
As well as being that haloed place where one can enjoy a bit of peace and quiet and a hot soak, the bathroom is also one of the best rooms to grow house plants. Its high humidity is a haven for a lot of indoor plants because so many of them hail from tropical or subtropical forests. There they flourish in the consistently damp, warm air and the light that pours in between the trees. These plants will feel right at home in bathrooms, shower rooms, and kitchens, if provided with the indirect light and average-to-warm temperature that most of them crave.
Dramatic and elegant, amaryllis (Hippeastrum) are bulbous indoor plants that cheer us through the coldest months. The huge flowers bloom atop tall, sturdy stems, opening like colourful trumpets, as if about to blast away the winter blues with a clarion call.