Garden Club of Cape Coral | Perfect holiday plants
Do you find yourself faced with the perennial dilemma of finding a perfect holiday gift? One of the best suggestions I can provide is the gift of a decorative plant! A colorful blooming plant or a festive evergreen will bring a bit of the outdoors inside during the holidays, and most can be planted in our Southwest Florida landscape in the New Year.
Local nurseries and garden centers are stocked with a variety of plants that you can choose from, and you’re certain to find a plant that will provide enjoyment over the holidays and then as a reminder of your friendship during the coming years. There are also many online sources for ordering gift plants that are delivered directly to your gift recipient; online plant offerings range from familiar holiday favorites to exotic and unusual plants that are sure to please the most discriminating friend.
Evergreen plant gifts can include traditional plants such as holly, beautifully scented rosemary (which was a favorite of the Victorians) or Norfolk Island pines that can serve as decorative tabletop trees. Hollies will need to be replanted outdoors as they do not like the confines of a pot, so make sure your gift recipient has room in their landscape for this plant.
Norfolk Island pines can be kept indoors in a pot indefinitely; if transplanted outside please be aware that they can grow quite large in our semi-tropical environment. Rosemary plants are often found trimmed into topiary shapes for the holidays and will thrive outside if given sufficient light and space to grow; this wonderful plant is also welcome as a fresh herb for cooking throughout the year.
Flowering plants available for holiday giving include amaryllis, cyclamen, Christmas cactus, orchids and the beloved poinsettia. You can find amaryllis bulbs both ready for potting or already planted and ready to bloom. In Southwest Florida, amaryllis bulbs can be planted outside without fear of frost, and they will multiply and bloom for many years in the garden. Cyclamens bloom in cooler weather and can be grown as winter annuals in Southwest Florida; their long-lasting bright red, lavender, pink or white flowers beautifully complement the plant’s dark green or silvery leaves. Christmas cactus are usually grown as houseplants as they prefer filtered sun, high humidity and moderate watering; these low maintenance plants provide beautiful blooms on their graceful hanging branches when the days grow shorter, and temperatures drop. An exotic flowering orchid is a wonderful holiday gift that will bloom with proper care for several months. Orchids flourish outside in our humid semitropical environment if they receive bright filtered light and are quite successfully grown when attached to trees where the orchid roots will adhere to the tree and support the plant.
No other plant signals the holiday season like the classic poinsettia; these beautiful and festive plants will maintain their color through March if kept away from drafts and direct sun. After the holidays, your poinsettia can be planted outdoors in full sun in moist, well-drained soil. Pinching the plant back several times over the summer will produce a full plant with numerous flower heads, and as the days shorten the plant will develop brightly colored bracts.
Even if you don’t consider yourself to be a “plant person,” it’s easy to choose a gift plant. Examine the plant to make sure that the foliage is healthy and full and that roots are not emerging from the bottom of the pot. Prior to delivering your gift plant, keep it in filtered sun and lightly water it. Your gift can be made even more special if you include a decorative pot or basket.
It is also a good idea to include some basic instructions with your gift plant; the University of Florida has detailed information on care as well as outdoor planting guidance for a variety of holiday gift plants: gardeningsolutions.ifas.ufl.edu.
The holidays are a special time to celebrate friendships, and holiday plants provide a cheerful and long-lasting expression of your very best wishes that are sure to provide happiness for months to come!
Cathy Dunn is a Lee County Master Gardener Volunteer, Garden Club of Cape Coral Member and President of the James E. Hendry Hibiscus Chapter Visit gardenclubofcapecoral.com. Like the club on its Facebook page!