little aliche

In the spirit of my 2nd bloggerversary, I'd thought I'd share some insight on the image at the top of my blog.  It is a close up shot of my christmas cactus which bloomed for the first time last year. 

My christmas cactus must have known my bloggerversary was coming up, because she bloomed just in time (a few months AFTER christmas).  I had a giant christmas cactus in my room in high school that I never really appreciated.  However, in college I gave my best guy friend Benji a christmas cactus named little aliche.

Since then, I've always had a soft spot for christmas cactuses.  In graduate school, a labmate brought me a piece from her christmas cactus - which I also named little aliche (to honor the first).  It took 5 years for that clipping to turn into a plant that blooms!  Well worth the wait.  

The blooms on my new little aliche are a deep fuchsia (much darker than the one I grew up with) and have been enchanting me for well over a month now.  Best. Plant. Ever.