The holidays have arrived and holiday plants are showing up in our homes and on our porches. Poinsettias, amaryllis and Christmas cactus should bloom throughout the holiday season with proper care.
Poinsettias purchased now will continue to have color until March. The secret to keeping poinsettias alive and well is to remove that colorful plastic sleeve many of them arrive in.
If you like the decoration around the pot, just cut the plastic off the bottom so that the plant can drain. Standing in water will kill the poinsettias’ roots.
Poinsettias need bright, indirect light and moderately moist soil. Water the plant thoroughly when the soil feels dry. As long as the temperatures remain over 50 degrees, pots will be happy outside in a sheltered area. Poinsettias can also be used as winter annuals in the ground; they will need to be covered if the temperature dips. Short poinsettias do better in the ground than the tall plants as they break in high winds.
Another use for poinsettias is in cut flower arrangements. Buy plants with a number of bracts and cut off the flowering branches you wish to use. Immediately singe the end over a flame — I use a candle or a barbecue lighter — to keep the latex sap from continuing to leak out. Then plunge the stem into cold water where the bracts will have good color for days. This is a good use of the branches that inadvertently get knocked off in the car on the way home from the store or when you are removing them from their
plastic shields. Amaryllis bulbs potted before Thanksgiving should be starting to shoot up flower stalks. Remember to stake the big stalks to keep them from tipping the pot over. Or place your pot in a display pot with rocks in the bottom. The stores have kits on sale now if you didn’t get your own started. I frequently buy the ones on the sale table that are already in bloom if they have another bud sprouting. When the plant blooms, keep it out of direct sunlight to prolong the flowers. When the flowers are gone, move the pot outside and fertilize it to encourage the growth of more leaves. This helps the plant store energy in the bulb so that it can flower again next year.
You can leave the bulb in the pot or plant it in the landscape. With luck you will get more blooms in spring this year, but more than likely you will have to wait a year.
Plants can stay in a well-drained pot for several years before the bulbs needs separating.
Christmas cactus are in short supply in stores this year. These cacti are native to South American rain forests where they usually live in trees. As a result they like coarse, well-drained soil and crowded roots. If you are lucky enough to find one this year, water when the top inch of soil is dry and throw out any water that collects in the drainage saucer. This is another plant that can die from wet roots.
If you already have a Christmas cactus from past years, it should have set buds last month. To do that the plant either needs night temperatures below 50 or total darkness for 13 – 15 hours a day when the temperatures at night are warm. Even a street light will throw off the budding process. The buds also will fall off if night temperatures are above 75 degrees. Our warm weather may explain why we are seeing so few in stores.
A quick note to those with citrus trees in the landscape: The fruit doesn’t sweeten until the temperatures drop into the 50s. Our weather has been too warm yet for this to happen. So don’t despair if your citrus is sour — just give it a little more time. Cold weather is bound to come sooner or later.