Holiday plants can keep on giving
I’m happy to report my Christmas cactus is blooming for the
fourth straight year. This is a reminder that many of those madly
blooming holiday plants can be brought back to life again
– or at least into extended bloom.
Holiday plants can keep on giving
I’m happy to report my Christmas cactus is blooming for the fourth straight year. This is a reminder that many of those madly blooming holiday plants can be brought back to life again – or at least into extended bloom.
There is no reason to dump them all in the trash on Jan. 1.
Christmas cactus is a good example. In nature the Christmas cactus lives in trees like orchids. Mine lives in a pot on the kitchen windowsill, where it received water every two weeks or so. It survives as a green houseplant through the year. But in November, when days become shorter and the nights dark and cold, Christmas cactus starts forming flower buds on the tips of the flat green serrated leaves. By mid-December there are many tubular rosy-purple flowers that last into January. Then the cycle begins again as the days grow longer and the nights shorter.
Poinsettias are a different story. Some people consider poinsettias “the fruit cake of the flower world,” to be admired, shared, and sometimes passed along. But this only means there is at least one poinsettia in just about every home in San Benito County. Once the colorful flower bracts die down, trim off the spent flowers and pick off browning leaves. Treat the poinsettia as a green houseplant. Set the plant in a sunny area, water sparingly, and fertilize lightly once a month. The green plant can last for months or until you get tired of looking at it.
Poinsettias endure outdoors in our region. Plant in a warm, sunny spot against a south-facing wall that will reflect heat. Outdoors a poinsettia will bloom in late fall.
Thanks to greenhouse growers and their magic hands, blooming orchids are readily available through winter. The flowers last a long time, but when the last flower expires, a person wonders, “Now what?”
It is possible to bring an orchid back into bloom, but it takes patience and care. Each plant should contain an Orchid Care tag, and this should be the guide into extending the bloom time and perhaps ensuring future flowers. As a basic guideline, water an orchid every 7 to 10 days. Some orchid varieties need more indirect light than others. Follow the Orchid Care instructions or check a garden book.
Lucky bamboo, the interesting plant with the curled stems, is widely available this year, although it was somewhat rare last year. Because they are fairly hardy, the plants show up in places like Walgreens, as well as garden centers and florist shops.
Actually, it’s not bamboo, but Dracaena sanderana, more commonly known as the ribbon plant, and it grows in water like a cut flower. Lucky bamboo is part of the Feng Shui way. It’s given as a token of good fortune and prosperity. The reason I like it is because it seems indestructible. Set lucky bamboo in a sunny window and treat it like a cut flower. Each week pour out the old water and add fresh water. No fertilizer is needed. Eventually you may want to cut off a bit of the top to keep it from growing too tall. Like the Christmas cactus, this one will last a long time.
