Festive flowers

It is a rare house these days that does not get or buy at least one plant, for Christmas. These need to be looked after properly to get best results.

Poinsettia, azalea, cyclamen, winter cherry, hyacinth and Christmas cactus are the most popular Christmas plants, but some others have become increasingly popular, such as anthurium, winter begonia, ardisia, jasmine, kalanchoe and peace lily. These plants all require the basic needs of water, light, warmth and some nutrients. For each of the popular kinds the details given should ensure that you will get good results.

The red bracts of poinsettia have become a symbol of Christmas. It flowers for Christmas naturally because of shorter day length. And therefore it is a not hardy plant, it must be grown in a heated room, the temperature not dropping much below 16 Celsius, day or night, and ideally a little more.

Poinsettia often drops its leaves soon after it comes into the house. This is usually caused by the plants being chilled so never buy house plants that have been left outside in the cold.

The Christmas azalea, or indoor azalea, makes an excellent long-lasting and long-flowering house plant. It is not hardy and cannot be grown outdoors except in very mild areas. It benefits greatly from being placed outdoors for the warm summer months with just some light shade in the middle of the day. It is very prone to wilting from becoming too dry and almost equally prone to root death from being waterlogged. Keep it in a cool room.

Cyclamen is another plant for a cool location — it too does not like to much warm or overly dry air. Hardy or very close to being hardy, the large-flowered cyclamen is a very long-lived plant and can be kept for many years. It reacts badly to drying out, instantly dropping its leaves. When watered it recovers but not all the leaves stand up again. It is best not to let it dry out, but it also reacts badly to over-watering.

Winter cherry, Solanum capsicastrum, likes a cool room too and it is almost hardy, being grown outdoors year-round in very mild gardens, although it almost inevitably succumbs to frost. It can be grown in an unheated greenhouse. The seasonal attraction is the round, bright red cherry-like fruits. It is a small woody bush and can be grown to a large size over many years. It is easy to look after.

Hyacinths are a hardy bulb that naturally flowers in March or April but has been traditionally forced for Christmas using bulbs that have been specially heat-treated to give them an artificial summer and bring forward flower production. These can be bought as bulbs and grown to flower or they can be bought in flower. Make sure to choose a fairly cool spot with good light. After flowering the bulbs can be planted in the garden to flower again

Christmas cactus is a ‘forest cactus’, one of many kinds that thrive in tropical forests growing in the leaf litter and mosses on the branches of large trees. It is a tough little plant, well adapted for periods of drought, but does best with even watering, never standing in water, and in a warm place. Flowering is triggered by short days in early autumn and artificial light can prevent flowering.

The red bracts of anthurium, or flamingo flower, have increased its popularity for Christmas but it flowers practically year-round, as does the related peace lily, or spathiphyllum. Both are excellent, long-lasting, long-flowering, easily-grown house plants. They need some warmth. Although some are a lot easier than others, all of the Christmas house plants can give good results — there is no reason why these plants should disappoint.