I would love to have cuttings of your orchid cactus. I have a gorgeous christmas cactus that blooms white with pinkish red edges. Let me know if your interested. Thanks, Sonja

My cuttings started growing back in November. Not only that, they sent out some buds, too! Just day before yesterday, I found a CC thrown away...the plant was mostly dried out. I got it home, cut off most of the segments and saved the biggest stems (don't know what you call them *LOL*). I've potted them and put them in ziploc bag. Do you think I have any hope they will come back to life after losing so much of their "water"? Xuan (plant rescuer)

Christy, even though your CC is in an outside shady area, when placed outside, a shady spot is stronger light than sunny areas indoors..so what you have are red hues on leaves..This is normal..I've got a few plants, (lipstick plant for one) growing red hued leaves. It's sitting right against a west window.. As long as foliage feels firm, (not mushy or dry) your CC should do fine. Toni

Ours (Ancient heirloom cutting of a cutting of a cutting) sits in a S. window all winter, and goes to partial shaded porch all summer. There couldn't be an easier plant to manage. I like the clay pot idea, just because I prefer nonglazed pots, but it's not essential. I water ours exactly once a week during the off-season. Outside, it becomes weather-dependant, but the objective is to let it go a little dry between waterings, then flood it. Of course, drainholes are essential, for this and pretty much any other plant one would care to grow in a pot. I fertilize ours moderately. There's no magic snake oil needed for this-any general purpose material will work. One final tip-Christmas cacti seem to bloom more when somewhat crowded in their pot. so even though it might seem to be time to pot up a size, resist this a bit longer than you would for other genera and species of plant. You will be rewarded with abundant blooms, like we are every year. Like I said, a real simple plant to deal with. Our only problem has been growth. These things put on size rapidly, and we're always having to find new homes for either the mother plant or the cuttings taken from.