Thanksgiving Bloom.

I wonder if any of you recall my lovely Christmas Cactus. It has been in my possession for almost four years. Each November, its inner clock triggers it into a lovely bloom - it never fails.

This year is no exception.
Adorned by numerous pink flowers, the plant seems to be thriving, having survived the relocation and the fact that half of it perished in the summer, due to my own neglect.

I have recently realized it is also called Thanksgiving Cactus, which I think is a name much better fitting this enchanting plant, blooming with uncanny precision during the eleventh month, signalling in no uncertain terms that the Holiday Season is once more about to begin.

Happy Thanksgiving to all my American friends.

The Enchanted Bloom.

It is more than a decade since I returned back to Europe, but I still recall with joy and longing the American Thanksgiving celebration, which I took part in for so many years while living in North Carolina.
Today, even though I no longer observe this lovely tradition, I do get reminded of the approaching Christmas through one beuatiful, subtle sign.

Each year, as precisely as clockwork, my Christmas Cactus stands in full bloom around this time. Its stunning, almost flamboyant veil of pink flowers - cascading down like a magenta waterfall, adorning my bedroom window - signals in no uncertain terms that the onset of the enchanted and most beuatiful time of the year is indeed imminent.

Happy Thanksgiving my dear American friends.

The First Sign.

Christmas is one of the most beautiful celebrations in our modern world. There are little signs here and there, which makes us aware of the upcoming holidays. I am not talking about the commercial hype, although I do love when the stores start to decorate the windows and when the streets are lit by hundreds of Christmas lights.

What I have in mind is more the atmosphere that settles across the cities. The essence of expectation and joy.
The most significant and the first sign to me is very simple. It is the blooming of my Christmas Cactus. Some of you might remember my post last year, when I was trying to identify this beauty in bloom. And again this November, it bursts with purple colour and displays hundreds of delicate flowers.

The Holiday Season is almost here.

Nameless Beauty.

A friend of mine gave me a flowering plant as a gift, when she once came over for a visit during the Christmas holidays. The plant was tiny and cactus like, I would say, with interestingly shaped leaves and four delicate pink flowers. Unfortunately the flowers disappeared right after New Year and the plant never flowered again. I thought it never would, as the small buds that sprouted at one point in February all fell off.
Nevertheless, the plant was thriving and kept growing. This summer I placed it in my bedroom window, which receives a lot of light in the morning. The room is the highest point in my house. Positioned in the attic, it is the warmest place at all times during the year.
To my surprise, about a month ago the plant grew new buds; at least hundreds of them it seemed. This time they did not fall of but developed and flourished, until the beautifully pink flowers returned about a week ago. Today I still do not know what the plant is called. If any of you reading this have a suggestion, I would be grateful to know, so I can finally give my favourite plant a name.:)