Christmas Cactus 2017

I seem to never learn from my mistakes.  Replanting plants that seem to be outgrowing their pots has always been risky business.  Generally speaking, if I can keep a plant alive for 6 months, it'll last 6 years.  That is, until I transplant it. Then, the difference in soil kills the plant.

This happened to my venus flytrap a few years back.  It died within a few weeks of getting moved to some new peat moss.

And now it's starting to happen to my Christmas Cactus, which I transplanted for the first time this past summer.  It budded, but only five flowers emerged.  Leaf/branch segments on one side of the plant began dropping off.  I wonder if this is the beginning of the end, or if it's just focusing it's new growth on a different part of the plant for the coming year.

I couldn't bring myself to pose the pitiful little plant for it's annual portrait. But a rare December sunlight illuminated the last flower on the plant, and out of respect for tradition, I needed to capture it's brief beauty.