Beginning to look a lot like Christmas flowers
Sunday December 21 2008
THE broad star-shaped red flowers of poinsettia have become a seasonal emblem almost on a par with holly and ivy. Other flowers also add a festive touch.
Most popular as Christmas plants are poinsettia, azalea, cyclamen, winter cherry, hyacinth, Christmas cactus and chrysanthemum. All of these are quite easy to look after but they need the right amount of moisture and warmth. Too much or too little of either can lead to disappointing results.
Poinsettia must be kept in a reasonably warm room, the temperature not dropping much day or night. Most living rooms can easily achieve this. Poinsettia plants that have been left outside in the cold often lose their leaves when brought home. Keep the compost just nicely moist, not wet, and do not leave the pot standing in a saucer of water.
The Christmas azalea is an excellent long-lasting house plant. It does not need as much warmth as poinsettia and can be grown successfully in an unheated greenhouse or room indoors. It is very prone to wilting from becoming too dry and equally it hates to be waterlogged. Keep it in a fairly cool room and put it outdoors for summer.
Cyclamen also likes a fairly cool location -- it reacts badly to drying out, instantly collapsing, but it also reacts badly to over-watering and should never stand in a saucer of water because the roots will quickly rot. After flowering, it can be brought to a greenhouse or cool conservatory or porch. Cyclamen is frost-resistant enough to be used outdoors but the flowers of the large kinds do not last long outside.
Winter cherry likes a cool room too, and it is almost hardy, being grown outdoors year-round in very mild gardens and can be grown in an unheated greenhouse. It is easy to look after, cared for in the same way as the azalea.
Hyacinths are forced for Christmas using heat-treated bulbs. These can be purchased in flower. As they are frost-resistant, they can be used in containers outdoors as well as inside. The flowers are sweetly scented. Choose a fairly cool spot in the house with plenty of bright daylight.
Christmas cactus is usually grown on a window sill indoors. Plants purchased in flower at this time of year need to be kept just moist in a bright place. It does not need a warm room but flowers more reliably if the room is fairly warm.
Chrysanthemums sold as pot-mums are very easy plant to care for. They can be planted out in the garden and many flower naturally in late autumn in future years.
