Perseverance

I have one plant in my house. The reason for this is that my girl cat, Torti, cannot resist eating anything plant-like. Which wouldn’t bother me too much, except as soon as she eats something plant-like she must then throw it, and any food she has recently eaten, up all over my carpet. Or shoe. Or book. We tried the leaves dipped in cayenne, spraying her, etc, but she is not willing to be deterred from her goal of consuming every plant-like thing in the universe. (This extends to any dropped vegetable bits on the kitchen floor, including onion skins.)

So, sadly, I have accepted that I cannot bring my love of gardening into my house, with one exception.

The little christmas cactus lives on the dark bookshelf year round, where Torti can’t climb to reach it. It gets watered when I remember, which isn’t too often. Occasionally I bring it to the edge of the shelf for some light, and Torti promptly chews on it (the mangled ends are from her chewing it).

Yet every year, this cactus gives me at least one and sometimes two blooms. Perfect, bigger than its own branches, blooms. So I keep it around. See the bud on the left (it is in the window to take the picture, by the way, I promptly put it back on the shelf after the photo shoot)? Looks like I’ll get two blooms this year, as this perfect little beauty is already open.

I love this little cactus and its crazy determination to bloom.

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