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 In the millennia before blooms from the other side of the world could be airlifted to brighten our bleak midwinter’s, the presence of a colorful, living and growing Christmas Plants in dark December seemed positively miraculous. This is surely why so many Mistletoe, Christmas Greenery, Christmas Picks have wonderful tales connected with their origins.
Today, the most miraculous thing about gift Christmas Plants may be the success of the industry in providing us each season with a bigger and better selection of plants to choose from. Flowering Christmas Plants are produced on a massive scale, under rigidly controlled conditions, for the failure of a crop to blossom in time for the Christmas market can mean instant financial disaster. With our Christmases guaranteed to be banked with color, we are groomed along with the plants so that we will be ready to buy exactly when the flowers are there to be sold. In this case, fortunately, just about everyone benefits.
ARDISA
These true Christmas Plants have a deep green, bushy top starred with clusters of bright berries one that can carry Yuletide sentiments throughout the year because the fruits last for many months and even accompany the opening of tiny, fragrant blossoms. This would make a perfect Christmas gift with a Unique Christmas Ribbon wrapped around it.
Selection and care: Look for full, leafy plants with rich color. Because Ardisia is of Asian origin, it enjoys day temperatures of about 70 degrees with bright, indirect light and nights cooling down to 50 to 55 degrees. Keep the soil evenly moist and mist around the plant but not directly on the blossoms. Cut back to 2 inches in early spring and withhold water until new shoots appear, then remove all but the three or four strongest shoots, repot in new soil, and resume feeding a month later.
CHRISTMAS CACTUS (Schlumbergera, formerly called Zygocactus)
In the rain forests of Brazil these cactuses hang from trees, where they struggle to find light, their segmented stems falling like a daddy longlegs tipped by fuchsia-colored, satiny-petaled flowers. Outside such exotic environments, they look great in hanging baskets or clay pots and adding a pretty touch to your Yard Garden Decor.
Selection and care: Buy plants with large, ready-to-open buds on firm, green stems. Be sure the Christmas Plants get plenty of air circulation and even temperatures of approximately 70 degrees during the day and 60 degrees at night, but keep it out of direct sunlight. It summers well outdoors in a shady spot or in a bright window. Two or three months before Christmas it should get little or no light between 5:00 p.m. and 8:00 a.m. until the first buds have opened.
CHRISTMAS PEPPER
The fiestas and piñatas of a Mexican Christmas are called to mind by this plant's oblong chili peppers, which start out green, then turn white, yellow, purple, and finally an orange-red in time for the holiday season. These would make unique Select to see a complete listing of our Christmas Decorations Ideas for your holiday décor.
Selection and care: Buy plants that have fruit and flowers at all stages of development, and check carefully for whiteflies. Mist frequently and keep in bright sunshine, with night temperatures in the 60s, but protect from extreme heat. Once the fruit starts to wither, discard the plant.
CITRUS
Fragrant white flowers and bright orange tangerines, yellow lemons, or pale green limes bring a welcome promise of warmer days to any winter. Fruits and flowers often appear simultaneously, and will be produced intermittently over many months.
Selection and care: Look for abundant, shiny leaves and at least a few open flowers. Citrus Christmas Tree Plants thrive in direct sunlight at 68 to 72 degrees and require at least four hours of sun daily, with night temperatures of 50 to 55 degrees. The flowers may need to be shaken or hand fertilized with a paintbrush to encourage fruit to form. Pinch off new growth to control the plant's size.
JERUSALEM CHERRY
(Solarium pseudocapsicum, also called Christmas cherry, Cleve-land cherry)
This plant's brilliant red-orange fruits are so wickedly enticing that one could imagine them part of a children's fairy tale, tempting a princess with their poisonous charm. So long as they are not eaten, they make the Jerusalem cherry a merry ornamental plant—for an all-adult household Home Decor Gifts.
Selection and care: Obtain healthy, bright plants with no yellowing or whiteflies. They prefer cool nighttime temperatures, 50 to 55 degrees, and need four hours of direct sunlight each day. Treat them as annuals and discard them once the fruits die.
KALANCHOE (Kalanchoe blossfeldiana, also called panda plant, velvetleaf)
Kalanchoes come from the sultry island of Madagascar and sport tight scarlet-red flowers clustering above succulent foliage, in shapes that resemble the bouffant hair-styles of the 1950s.
Selection and care: Buy compact plants with plump, unwrinkled leaves and buds that are mostly unopened. They require a mini-mum of four hours of good sunlight with daytime temperatures of 70 to 75 degrees, going down to 60 degrees at night. Water only when the soil is dry. To ensure blossoms for next Christmas, summer plants outdoors, pinching them back to keep the foliage busy, or start new ones from cuttings. From mid-September to early October, keep plants in darkness for 15 hours a day.
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