Christmas Cactus . . . or is it an Easter Cactus?

I have my grandmother's Christmas Cactus that was given to her in 1942 by one of her suitors before she met my grandfather. This plant has been passed around to many family members and has traveled all up and down the west coast.

Grandma named it "Harry" after the young man that gave it to her so many years ago.

It was finally given to me a few years ago, after a stint in my brother's garage, where it nearly died. I am no Lily Miller, but I brought it home, trimmed it back, repotted it, treated it for insects and started watering and fertilizing it.

I did a little reading about this plant (which I think is actually a succulent and not a true cactus) and here's what I learned:

"Christmas cactus will bloom if given long uninterrupted dark periods, about 12 hours each night. Begin the dark treatments in about mid-October to have plants in full bloom by the holidays. You can place the plants in a dark closet from about 8 P.M. - 8 A.M. each night for 6-8 weeks or until you see buds forming. Christmas cacti will also bloom if they are subjected to cool temperatures of about 50 to 55 degrees F, eliminating the need for the dark treatments. Plants should be blooming for the holidays if cool treatments are started by early November.

Other species of holiday cactus bloom at different times of the year and have slightly different growth habits. Christmas cacti have scalloped stem segments and bloom at the stem tips. Thanksgiving cacti have 2-4 pointy teeth along the edges of the sections and will bloom earlier than Christmas cactus if left to natural day-length. Easter cacti have rounded teeth along the segments and bloom primarily in the spring but may also periodically re-bloom at other times of year." - excerpt from this website.

Anyways, my cactus currently has 7 blooms on it! We've had a few blooms in the past few years, but never 7 at one time, and never in the spring. Maybe what I have is an Easter Cactus!

Here's "Harry" today in all his glory:

The opened blooms remind me of fuschia blooms. They are so complex and delicate all at the same time.

Long live Harry!