Some people are plant people and some people are not, I have known people that can kill a plastic plant, in the old house I had quiet the collection including a summer cactus and a Christmas cactus, It may have needed the cut back to help it along, kind of like trimming a tree. I had a lot of luck with both of them flowering most of the time, I rarely fertilized and watered inconsistantly. But I got my green thumb from my grandma. since moving here most of the plants didn't like the change in water(we have high saline, and I try to mostly use the rain barrel now) and my schedule has changed and have a hard time watering at all. My violets would bloom most of the year and not just one or two, they would be covered. (violets like tea)