The beginning of December or January is the perfect time to grow your indoor garden. Winter blooms are as close as the houseplant section of the nursery or home center.
Growing a blooming plant has three advantages:
• When you give or grow a plant you enjoy a simple luxury that does not contain calories, alcohol or an appointment at a spa;
• A plant can be given and enjoyed for any occasion, from celebration to sympathy; and
• No need for gift wrap.
Indoor plants also improve air quality and mental health. Plus, some indoor plants like hellebores can be planted out into the garden or bulbs like amaryllis can be regrown for years of blooms.
You can enjoy the traditional Poinsettia as a houseplant
The good news about the traditional poinsettia is that new varieties are easier to grow and maintain. The new poinsettias can add indoor color for nine months or more – if you like having a poinsettia in bloom for spring.
Colors are now available in soft pinks, whites, gold and even pastel blends besides the traditional Christmas red. You can also find tiny desk top poinsettias or hanging baskets of poinsettia that save on space.
Just remember to protect your potted poinsettia from the cold – this means do not let poinsettia sit in an unheated car while you do errands. Keep a paper sleeve around the plant while traveling to protect it from frosty drafts. Do not overwater. Yellowing lower leaves are often a sign of too much water so make sure there is a drainage hole in the foil and plastic wrapping.
Once the holidays are over remove all wrapping from the pot and continue to keep the soil moist but not wet. Now set the potted poinsettia on a table or in a basket grouped with other green houseplants.
Help Yourself to a Hellebore
The holiday gift plant with the fastest growth in sales is the winter blooming hellebore. This perennial has evergreen foliage, long lasting white or pastel blooms and is winter hardy and long lived in the landscape.
Hellebores have been more popular than poinsettias in Europe for a decade but are now making their budding appearance in American home stores, grocery stores and nurseries, all wrapped up in red foil paper and ready to give as an indoor gift plant.
But wait, there’s more.
Unlike a traditional poinsettia, a winter blooming hellebore can be planted directly into the garden once the holiday season is past. This makes it a popular plant to give to an office or apartment dweller as there will be no need feel guilty about disposing of the plant, pot and soil once the holiday is over.
Hand off the hellebore to any delighted gardener who will enjoy this shade loving perennial for years to come.
Amaryllis is the drama mama
Grow or give an already budded amaryllis bulb for a truly dramatic performance. The thick stem will emerge bearing giant buds that open up to bright red, pink or white blooms.
The huge butterfly-shaped flowers never fail to impress and will last for weeks. Use a single amaryllis bulb as a blooming reminder of spring flowers to come or invest in a chorus line of amaryllis in bloom that will put on a block buster show worthy of a standing ovation during the dark days of winter.
Your holiday or indoor decorating just went from dull to dramatic!
