Schlumbergera 'Gold Charm'
Schlumbergera 'Gold Charm is a yellow-flowered holiday cactus cultivar, notable as the first true yellow Schlumbergera to be sold commercially — one of a group of selections bred to push the genus beyond its familiar range of pinks, magentas and reds into the warm yellow and gold end of the spectrum. Its arching, segmented stems bear soft golden-yellow blooms in the short, cool days of late autumn and winter, making it a cheerful companion to the more common coloured forms.
As a cultivar, 'Gold Charm' is grown and cared for exactly as its parent — see the Schlumbergera genus page for full cultivation details. The notes below cover only what sets this selection apart.
Description
Like other holiday cacti, 'Gold Charm' is an epiphytic, jointed plant whose flattened, leaf-like stem segments (cladodes) grow end to end into gently cascading chains; the habit is fairly upright in a young plant and becomes more trailing with age. The margins of each segment are toothed — pointed, in the manner of the truncata-type holiday cacti — and the plant flowers from the tips of the newest segments.
The distinguishing feature is the flower colour: a clear, pale to warm golden-yellow, paler and whitish toward the base of the tepals. Yellow is a notoriously unstable colour in Schlumbergera, because the pigment is temperature-sensitive: buds that develop in cool conditions (below roughly 14–15 °C) tend to open flushed with pink rather than clear yellow, so the exact shade you see can vary from plant to plant and season to season. The tubular, multi-tepalled flowers have the swept-back, layered look characteristic of the group.
Cultivation
Care is as for the parent species; see Schlumbergera for the full account. In brief, holiday cacti are forest cacti rather than desert plants: give bright, indirect light, a loose, airy, humus-rich potting mix (see Soil and potting mix), and water more generously than you would a desert cactus, letting the top of the mix dry between waterings (see Watering). They resent soggy roots and full harsh sun in equal measure.
A note specific to the yellow forms: because the yellow pigment is temperature-sensitive, the clearest gold develops when the buds mature in reasonably warm conditions, whereas buds held too cold (below about 14–15 °C) tend to open flushed with pink instead. As with all Schlumbergera, flowering is triggered by the long nights and cooler temperatures of autumn, so the aim is to give the plant the steady, uninterrupted darkness it needs to set buds while not letting it get so cold during bud development that the colour shifts. Avoid moving the plant or letting it dry out badly once buds have formed, as sudden changes readily cause bud drop.
Propagation follows the parent species — holiday cacti root very easily from stem-segment cuttings (see Propagation — cuttings).
See also
- Schlumbergera — the genus overview and full care
- Soil and potting mix · Watering · Propagation — cuttings · Repotting · Pests and diseases