Yeah,
I guess I see it as kinda like correcting someone when they ask for a 'Kleenex'...no you cannot have one, you may have a facial tissue though, specifically, in this case you may have an 'Envision'...

And really, it is not that I don't care about the names of plants--I do, but if someone calls a sunflower a daisy I am pretty hard-pressed to figure out which daisy 'owns' the common name of daisy, such that I can float a legitimate assertion that a sunflower cannot be called a daisy.

And in the case of Schlumbergera, I find it hilarious that S. truncata is, for all intents and purposes the 'new' Christmas cactus--whether we like it or not--precisely because it does bloom around Christmas and it is widely grown and available for people to acquire as the Christmas cactus, and yet folks insist on disabusing folks of that notion, just because some other rare and hard to find Schlumbergera was the original Christmas cactus, or the so-called 'true' Christmas cactus.

Therefore, we cannot call a different species in the same genus the same common name...really? Why not? We do it all the time with other plants.
Take Salvia, for example, huge genus, many species, and pretty much we get to call them sage; and there are many distinguishable common names to use; and they do span species i.e. 'autumn sage' is not limited to a single species representing the original, or the one and only 'true' autumn sage. It would be an equally ridiculous construct if there was a rare and hard to find species that could only be called the autumn sage and all the other species which were mass-marketed had to be called the late summer sage, or seasonal sage, or something else because 'autumn sage' was revered and reserved.

Now if Sondra had posted her pictures and said "here are my Schlumbergera russelliana", then I could totally be supportive of the correction that the plants are in fact Schlumbergera truncata instead, because then we would be talking about the actual identity of the plants, using their names.

For me, it goes back to the type of gardener one is or perceived to be. If one of my friends, who I knew to be a casual gardener, said look at my Christmas cactus!, I would probably admire it and move on. On the other hand, if a friend who I knew was very interested in her plants said that, I might tell her all about the different 'Holiday' cactuses.

My guess is that most people posting here have an interest in gardening and wouldn't take offense at being given information about the plants they grow.

Had I known it would have caused such the stir, I wouldn't have posted it. It wasn't meant as a correction as in I'm snuffing my knowledge at you and I think you're wrong, let me point that out, but rather an "in case you were interested in knowing this" tidbit of information.

It is difficult to "read" people through their typing online and difficult to read their intended delivery. I didn't believe anyone was going to take offense from the comment, as I'm not that type of person (I'm by no means an expert and there are plenty of people on here that know more than me). I just thought she'd like to know as the two names are often confused due to what I consider, mislabeling by plant vendors. If one owned both a "true" 'Christmas cactus,' saying that they were as numerous as 'Thanksgiving Cactus' and you also owned a 'Thanksgiving Cactus,' people would be distinguishing between the two and we probably wouldn't be having this discussion.

Sorry, I'm not offended--I am really just amused, principally because Thanksgiving cactus is not a proper name any more than Christmas cactus is.

I am also not a vendor or marketer. If I were though, I could easily take offense at being told I was mislabeling plants and doing bad marketing, because it really is okay for the vendors to call them whatever holiday cacti they want to and market them however they please.

They are different plants, and if I was vending and marketing, I would label them with their different and correct scientific names, not holidaynicknames; I would include cultivar names as appropriate for the many hybrids, and market them all the same.
I fully agree that if the so-called true Christmas types were actually profitable and thus widely available for people to purchase, that there would be a proper distinction.

I do have a x-buckleyi with one bloom on it right now. Next week I am going to call it a Christmas cactus. Later in January, when it really gets going, I'm going to call it the MLK Holiday cactus, and then later in February, as it peters out, I am going to call it the Washington's B-day and the Valentine's Day cactus. It won't bloom into any other holidays for me, so then I won't need to worry about what to call it, but I will still know what it is.
And, I apologize for offending all of you for having my peculiar take on the thing!
Sorry

No hard feelings.

Very excellent additions to the conversation, much enjoyed.

I don't think anyone should feel cheated or duped when they buy an S. truncata with a label that says "Christmas cactus." (Save your righteous indignation for a real issue since there are so many worthwhile ones? LOL!) Hopefully this stuff could make someone/anyone/everyone feels a little better/more comfortable/less conflicted. That's the kind of thing I was going for with the statements above. It's all good and I'm no longer going to tell anyone, "actually it's not a CC, it's a TC" unless it otherwise comes up or the botanical name is in play, and apologize to anyone with whom I might have broached the subject unnecessarily in the past because, at the time, I felt like I knew an important secret. If nothing else, I feel better. :+)

Usually if a newbie shows me their TC, I'd compliment him/her and mention that there is another similar plant that blooms a few weeks later, and the way to differentiate between the 2 is that the TC has points resembling a claw. That way they are spurred to look for the other and hopefully to start a collection. Enabling, yes.

My holiday cacti is finally with good buds. I usually get my blooms in/around January. Glad it has more buds this time, and having been away the whole December, happy to see it is holding well so far.


Will update later it it manages to bloom

I'm so happy you have some buds. When plants bloom only once a year and then for some reason don't bloom, it can be very disappointing. I've gone through that with crinums and have some Mexican Tuberose that has let me down for five years now!

I would like to purchase an Easter cactus in the spring. Does anyone know of a place that would have them for sale? I checked the web, and found only one seller and that was on eBay.

I see them often on sale right after the Christmas holidays..since they are interchangeable labeled or unlabeled at big box stores.

Some one here sells them. All colors. Check back on posts. Does some one remember? I am on the look out for a yellow one. What ever kind. A lot of people got them reduced to almost nothing after Thanksgiving at the big W-M.

They (BBS's) usually sell Easter cactus right before Easter. (March 27 this year.) They aren't always with the plants, sometimes they're inside on a table in a very busy spot.

Thanks, I'll check closer to Easter. I did not know the Easter cactus existed until our conversation about the 'Holiday' cactus. I was only familiar with the Thanksgiving cactus (which I thought was a Christmas cactus). I want the Easter cactus because of the bloom time and the bloom is also different.

Whitton's sells all kinds of holiday cactus. Prices are reasonable and his plants are beautiful. I ordered 6 Christmas cactus from him. They were sold in 2" pots but they were very nice starter plants with blooms when I got them! I plan to order my Easter cactus from him soon. Here's the link: http://www.whittongreenhouses....

Thanks, Julie! I bookmarked the site. It says they are not shipping now, so I will keep checking back.

And finally it has started to bloom:

Happy Holiday


from my MLK Holiday cactus

The peach colored one is catching up with a bloom, yey! Repositioned the cache pot to show little piggy better