Holiday plants for gifts and indoor decorating

“But God has never told us what a turkey means.”

G. K. Chesterton

“There are some people who want to throw their arms round you and there are other people who want to strangle you ... simply because it is Christmas.”

Robert Lynd

Thanksgiving at our house marks the beginning of the holiday season and the first of two serious turkey dinners. Our traditional family dinner is a remembrance of the four wild turkeys served at the first thanksgiving feast 384 years ago. With my copious consumption of turkey and all of the trimmings in sight, I’m now in the mood to write about the upcoming holidays.

The most ubiquitous of all holiday plants is the poinsettia, Euphorbia pulcherrima. A native of Mexico, the red flowers we’ve come to prize are actually modified leaves called bracts. The inconspicuous yellow portion in the center is the flower itself. Through the efforts of Paul Ecke, the poinsettia is available in a number of different holiday colors.

Poinsettias will probably grow too tall to stay indoors permanently (they grow leggy to 10 feet and more). I consider them a useful albeit old-fashioned garden plant, planted either as a tall bush or informal hedge. Don’t expect them, however, to bloom nearly as well as their first holiday, and grow them only in sunny, frostless areas of Laguna.

The azalea is a popular year-round gift and is also a valuable garden plant. Available in white, pink, red, salmon, purple and combination colors, these profuse bloomers are hybridized as either shade or sun varieties. It’s a must to grow azaleas in an acid soil that retains moisture and drains quickly. Your local nursery can provide you with an azalea-camellia planting mix that is combined nine parts to one part garden soil for an optimal planting medium.

The Christmas cactus, Zygocactus truncatus, is a popular hanging plant from Brazil. Not a true cactus, this one needs more water and is a favorite houseplant of my mom’s. The pink, red or white flowers are very showy, and its blooming schedule will let you know that Christmas is coming.

Care of these Christmas gift plants is easy; just follow a few instructions. Place the plant in a sunny window and avoid sudden temperature changes. Keep the soil moist, but don’t let water stand in the plant’s saucer or foil. Gradual leaf drop is an indication of not enough light; crinkling, yellowing leaves may mean too much heat or lack of water; and rapid leaf drop show exposure to cold or standing water in the saucer.

Living Christmas trees are generally pines or other evergreens shaped in the traditional conical manner. Planted in a container and pruned regularly, these trees can be “recycled” for a number of years before planted in one’s garden or donated to certain municipalities or schools.

Reputable nurseries will sell only living Christmas trees that grow successfully in their gardening area. Aleppo pine, Pinus halepensis, and Japanese black pine, Pinus thunbergiana, both grow well in Laguna, requiring full sun and well-drained soil. To purchase a Colorado blue spruce, Picea pungens ‘Glauca,’ or noble fir, Abies procera, for our local gardens is a marginal proposition at best.

Living Christmas trees should be sheared regularly to maintain shape and to limit size. They should visit inside your home for only two weeks. Prior to being moved indoors, they should be well watered. They will be happiest and healthiest if they receive sunlight and appropriate water and are kept away from other heat sources during their indoors stay.

Catharine and I have shared a star pine, Araucaria excelsa, for the past 15 holidays. We have delighted in watching it grow from a two-foot tabletop to a 12-foot living Christmas tree. This year, it will move to our son’s house, as he is more serious about the holiday thing. Catharine placed a poinsettia on the kitchen counter today; its red coloring is the final clincher that the holidays are upon us. See you next time.

* Steve Kawaratani is happily married to local writer, Catharine Cooper, and has two cats. He can be reached at 949.497.2438, or E-mail to [email protected]

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