A 70 Year Old Christmas Cactus

Exactly How Long Does a Christmas Cactus Live?

While spending time with Mary Ann in the year before she passed, she told us on more than one occasion that when she was gone, she wanted someone to be sure to keep the Christmas cactus that was in the tavern. It was really old and she wanted to be sure that someone would continue to care for it. My sister, Traci, obediently agreed to take it, not having gotten a really good visual of it since there were a lot of items stored in front of it at the time.

Once all the stuff was cleared away, and we got a good look at this plant in all its sprawling enormity, well, let's just say Traci was having some regrets about her promise. This thing may require its own bedroom.

Browsing through old photo albums, I came across a photo of the plant back in its early days. This photo was taken circa 1950s. That would put this plant at darn near 70 years old, possibly older since I don't know exactly when they first acquired the plant. I was curious and had to google how long a Christmas cactus typically lives. If you're wondering, it's 20-30 years.

Christmas Cactus, circa 1950

A Facebook friend of my cousin's posted this story when commenting about her memory of going to Mautz's Tavern:

Sometime when I come back to visit I would like to see the bar again. I remember going when it was open and a lot of times after it closed. Your Grandma had a huge Christmas cactus in there that she was all upset that it wasn't growing well. Seems some of the customers were pouring beer into it : I remember she was so angry that they would do that to her plant. She was a great lady :) I'm sure she would be happy it is still there. Way back when the bar was still open DeAnne took me out there at least twice. At that time it was a large plant but at least half was yellowing and looked poor. Toni told me that it was very old but dying because of the beer but she and MaryAnn were working hard to bring it back

-Peggy Adami-Doyle

You hear that Traci, she would be happy it was still there. This thing is far from dying and in fact, is currently blooming, just in time for Christmas. You better start clearing out a room.

This photo was taken on Sunday, December 22, 2019

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