BLOOMINGTON, Ill. (AP) - A central Illinois man who took care of a Christmas cactus for nearly 70 years says the plant is probably close to 120 years old.
Paul Van Hook of Bloomington is 84 years old himself. He tells the (Bloomington) Pantagraph (https://bit.ly/2ipoPam) that he received the winter-flowing houseplant as a gift when he was 16 after he admired it while making a delivery to an elderly customer. The customer gave it to him months later, saying she was getting too old to take care of it.
For similar reasons, Van Hook has passed the plant along to his friends Lee and Anne Niepagen, who own a greenhouse and garden center in Bloomington.
They say their customers enjoy the impressive plant, which measures about 4 feet across.
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Information from: The Pantagraph, https://www.pantagraph.com
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