Wednesday Garden Pics: Hens & Christmas Cactus!

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Welcome back!
Just before starting this I was reading a travel/leisure article-photo series about the worlds, "strangest bridges," such as the bridge in China with a huge Ferris wheel in the middle.
Of course, I scrolled down to look for witty user comments and the first one I read made me burst into laughter:
 Someone wrote: "It's all fun and games till those bridges come alive and form into Decepticons."
(I suppose you have to be a Transformer fan to get that.)

Anyway, on to Garden Pictures:
First up: a shot of  the "teacup" portion of my garden. This is one of several teacups I have with Hen & Chick succulents installed in them in a bed running along a retaining wall we put in a couple years ago.
I just added the pea gravel around all of them only a few weeks ago, because I like how it enhances their looks. It also helps prevent rain from washing the soil out of the cup!



Next pic is of my Christmas Cactus laden with bloom buds.
I put it outside in spring and just brought it inside shortly after Halloween, before a cold snap.
Tiny buds were already evident then. It's longer periods of darkness that trigger Christmas Cactus to bloom. So, to help it produce even more blooms, I've been covering it with a dark piece of fabric daily from about 4 pm to 8 am daily.
Once blooms open, I'll stop, but I can see it's helped many blades develop the promise of a bloom.
The blooms are pure white with hot pink accents.


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