A friend of mine has the most gorgeous cactus with bight orange and purple flowers in her garden. The "leaves" are really long and it's a huge plant. With neither of us knowing very much about cactus I cut a couple of leaves that were holding the beautiful flowers to put in a vase. They looked stunning.for 1 day.the flowers died the next day :(.Was this because they don't particularly like much water!The leaves are still fine so am wondering if I could put them in some soil and if they'd take!
floweringrose,
Dec 6, 5:41pm
i wish mine would flower.wonder wot the secret is.have even tried not watering much over summer
fleur59,
Dec 6, 5:56pm
epiphyllum is what it sounds like . The flowers only last a day or 2
carlosjackal,
Dec 6, 7:28pm
Ohhh.what a shame - they were incredible.so vibrant. Can I take a piece of cactus "leaf" and stick it in the ground to grow!
kateley,
Dec 6, 9:57pm
I've grown epiphyllum from pieces of the leaf - they're not growing particularly fast but I guess eventually I'll get them to flowering size
quiz3,
Dec 6, 10:12pm
Yes they are stunning, colour brilliant, you could split the plant when it's dorment if your friend allows it of course. Look on Trade me, I have seen them for sale.
Good luck.
mokaumoi,
Dec 6, 10:22pm
Certainly sounds like an epiphyllum. I have one in flower right now, with scarlet flowers. They really only last a day or two. Mine has been growing in a polystyrene pot for 15 +years and I am sorry to say has been totally neglected. I water it in Summer along with other cacti and succulents, but that is all the fussing it gets. It has 15 flowers at the moment and buds coming. You can't really pick the flowers, just enjoy them on the plant.
If you plant your leaves into a pot of cactus mix, then you can stick it away somewhere while it gets established , then put it on show when it eventually flowers-and you won't bump into cactus prickles in the garden!
carlosjackal,
Dec 7, 6:56pm
Is cactus mix readily available! I don't think I've ever seen it before.but then again I've never looked for it before! Thanks for the link.yep they are beautiful.very showy and I'm going to try and grow it from a leaf.
koru67,
Dec 7, 11:51am
Cacti & succulent mix is readily available at your garden centre, or some hardware stores stock it.
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