Christmas cacti are photoperiodic; they will bud up and flower only with less than 12 hours of daylight per day. Once the buds form, you can put the plant anywhere.

Put your forest cactus in a dark closet for 14 hours a night, starting six to eight weeks before you want it to bloom. Bring it back out into a bright location during daylight hours.

At any other time of year, it’s easy to miss the beauty of the jumbled little Christmas cactus -- such a funny-looking bit of green chaos with its flat, oval-segmented stems that go willy-nilly ...

Answer: Bringing your Christmas cactus inside is a good idea, as our nights are now getting down into the 40s. They can’t tolerate temperatures much below 40 for any length of time.

Michael Loos/Special to The Plain Dealer The Zygocactus creates a colorful display. Q: I have a Christmas cactus that is already finished blooming. Some years, it blooms even earlier or not at all.