Keep The Holidays Alive

Holiday Plans Can Bring Year-Round Joy

                Christmas is now a memory, but many of the plants that graced your home during the holidays can continue to live a useful life, either as a houseplant or in the garden. All they need is a little tender loving care. 

                Here are some tips for purchasing and looking after a few of the indoor winter flowering plants. For others, consult a good plant encyclopedia or your favorite internet search engine. 

Poinsettias

                Although many people toss their poinsettias immediately after Christmas, with proper care the healthy ones will continue to look great for several more months.  In fact, now is a good time to get bargains on the plants still in stock in the shops, and the pink and yellow varieties don’t scream “Christmas” the way the red ones do. 

                If you are buying a plant, inspect it carefully to be sure it is the best possible quality. The leaves should be a healthy green and firmly attached to the stalk. Check that the colored bracts are fresh-looking, not withered or curled. Those are signs that the plant has been denied water or proper nutrients. Also look for mildew, especially on the little yellow buttons in the center, which are the true flowers. If available, select the plant that has a few upper bracts that still show a trace of green. That means the plant has not quite reached its peak of perfection, and it will stay pretty longer.

                Keep the poinsettia in bright light, and avoid temperature extremes. The plant will suffer if it gets hotter than 70 degrees during the day, colder than 60 degrees at night. Avoid drafts also.  Water only when dry, and pour off any excess water. A native of the dry regions of Mexico, poinsettias can go a long while without water.

                Once the danger of frost is past, you can grow poinsettias outdoors where they thrive in our hot, humid summers. Late next September, start putting the plant in total darkness for 12-15 hours during the night. With luck, you’ll get it to flower again. 

Kalanchoes

                A fairly new introduction to the winter flower market is the kalanchoe (pronounced ka-lan-KO-e). This succulent plant bursts forth with a profusion of flowers once the nights grow longer than the days. 

                You’ll get the longest enjoyment from the pretty flower clusters if you select a plant with most of its flowers still closed. Also look for plump, fleshy leaves and a compact growth habit which indicates it was grown in enough light. Dried, withered leaves are a sign of improper watering, and it may be impossible to get the plant back to a healthy, attractive state.

                Place the plant in a sunny spot to encourage its compact growth habit. It will require a minimum of four hours of direct sunlight each day. Like most winter bloomers, it will also do better in a cool spot with night temperatures ranging from 50 to 60 degrees. 

                Kalanchoes do well for years as potted plants, and the waxy, scalloped leaves are attractive both in the garden and as house plants. Grow kalanchoes indoors during the cold season, and then take them outside in the summer. 

                Repot the plant after flowering finishes, choosing a container that is 1 to 1½ inches wider than the previous one. To maintain a bushy form, cut back each spent flower stem to a point just above a growing node where a leaf joins the stem. Once you see new growth, begin a feeding program. Choose a fertilizer for flowering house plants and follow the directions for concentration and frequency. Let the soil dry out completely before you water.

                Kalanchoe is normally a spring bloomer. To get one to flower again next Christmas, bring the plant indoors in early September and begin a month-long regime where the plant is in total darkness for 14 hours each day and in bright light for the remaining 10 hours.  If all that sounds like too much trouble, then enjoy the flowers when they bloom naturally in spring. 

Holiday Cacti

                Named for the holiday season when they are most likely to flower, three very similar plants are the Thanksgiving cactus (Schlumbergera truncata), Christmas cactus (Schlumbergera x buckleyi), and the Easter cactus (Hatiora gaertneri and H. rosea). All three plants are rather plain - until they explode into bloom. Then delicate, cactus-like flowers open on the tips of the succulent green stems in brilliant shades of purple, red, pink, cerise, or a combination of white and pink. 

                All holiday cacti are easy to maintain, so it’s worth keeping them from year to year. All they want is moderate light and occasional watering and feeding. Once temperatures warm, the plants can moved outside to a spot with bright light but no direct sun. Bring them back inside in autumn when the weather cools.

                These “cacti” are epiphytes that grow wild in the crotches of trees in their native Brazilian jungles. As a result, they prefer to have their roots packed fairly tightly in their pots, with an acidic, well-draining soil. It’s time to move a plant to a larger pot when you notice that water flows right through without being absorbed by the soil. At that point there are more roots than soil, and the plant needs more room. 

                All three holiday cacti are easy to propagate. Place a broken stem in water or in a pot of moist soil, and the odds are good you’ll have a new rooted plant in a few weeks. 

Cyclamen

                The dazzling blooms of the florist cyclamen (Cyclamen persicum) make it a winter favorite. The colors include white and shades of pink, red and lavender. Flower buds emerge from the center of the plant, rising up from beneath the silver mottled, fleshy, heart-shaped leaves. For the longest display, choose the plant with the most buds. 

                To make a cyclamen last indoors, keep it cool (night temperatures in the 40 to 50 degree range and day temperatures less than 68 degrees are perfect) and where it gets as much light as possible. 

                Cyclamen must not dry out or the buds will wither and drop.  On the other hand, if kept too moist, the tubers may rot. Check frequently and water thoroughly when the soil feels dry.  Add a water-soluble fertilizer with a ratio of 15-30-15 every two weeks.

                The plants go dormant in summer. Once flowering has stopped, withhold feeding and watering until August when the plant breaks dormancy. In August, repot in a slightly larger container using fresh soil. Leave half of the tuber above the soil line.  Resume watering and feeding.