Kissing under a sprig of mistletoe is a holiday ritual for many families. The parasitic plant is easy to see spot in tree branches, but difficult to harvest.
By December most of our landscaping plants are happily resting, allowing us to focus our energy and attention on non-gardening pursuits like shopping, wrapping, cooking, and cleaning.
But other plants are central to our holiday celebrations, from the 25 to 30 million Christmas fresh trees harvested every year to the increasingly rare sprigs of kiss-inducing mistletoe. You can still find clumps of mistletoe in leafless branches of trees but less of the fresh stuff is showing up in nurseries and other retail establishments because fewer forest foragers are shooting it down with rifles (yes, that’s the easiest way to gather it).
No wonder a tiny package of mistletoe can cost $10 or more.
Most Christmas plants are enjoyed for only the season, but some continue giving with just a little encouragement.
An amaryllis is so visually stunning guests will surely think you are practicing high horticulture by growing it. Those of us who have grown addicted to its giant white, pink, red and bi-color lily-like blooms on tall stalks know how easy it is to enjoy them at Christmas when their flower stalk is raring to burst out from the bulb.
Amaryllis bulbs in boxed kits come with a container, potting soil, and growing instructions that call for situating the bulbs in the pot with about one-third of them above the soil level. Put the container in a bright place and start watering. In a few weeks two to four big flowers will appear at the top of the stem. When all of them fade, cut the stem down to about one inch above the bulb. Sometimes, depending on the variety (and luck), another stalk will appear in a few weeks and bear more flowers.
If you want to keep the bulb alive for the next year, give a light feeding of liquid fertilizer about twice a month to encourage leaf growth. When the chance of frost is over in the spring, take the plant outside to a partially shaded place and continue feeding and watering it until Labor Day. Then force in it into dormancy by withholding water. I usually turn the pot over on its side for a while before placing it on my screened porch where it gets no water. Leaves can be removed as they wither.
Before the first frost, typically around the first week of November, move the plant indoors to a bright window and start feeding and watering it again. The top of the bulb will open again for the leaves, stem, and flowers eventually to emerge. Timing is tricky so you may not have flowers on or near Christmas, but they will arrive when they are ready.
After Christmas, I often buy amaryllis bulb kits that are reduced in price by half or more at nurseries and even at the corner drugstore. I’ll see their flowers in January or February, precisely when I most crave their vitality and color.
Amaryllis are spectacular during the holidays or any other time. With a little care, some varieties will re-bloom for several years.
Just in case you failed to notice, poinsettias are beloved around the holidays — in fact, they are the best-selling potted plant in America and Canada. In the tropics of Mexico where they grow naturally, they are perennials that reach 10 to 15 feet in height. Most of us enjoy them for the season and then toss them out with the Christmas tree, But some patient plantsmen have found how to get their color to return year after year.
Like me and many others, Kathy and Paul Porter always rush to Lowes Home Improvement Warehouse on Black Friday to buy 99-cent poinsettias for gifts and interior decorations. The Porters still have eight plants from years past that regularly re-bloom. One, which has grown from a modest plant in a four-inch pot to 4 feet tall, has been re-reddening for about 10 years.
After the holidays their poinsettias enjoy life in a heated sun porch until spring, when they are placed outside to experience rainwater and the normal lengthening and then shortening of days. Wherever you keep them, cut the older stems back to 4 to 6 inches in March and then pinch off all of the stem tips throughout the spring and summer to encourage fullness.
As days grow short and frost threatens, the Porters move their plants back into the sun porch which is devoid of any artificial light at night. Kathy thinks the combination of bright light during the day and darkness at night triggers the re-coloration of the bracts, which are the showy modified leaves that surround the yellow flowers in their center. Poinsettias kept in rooms with artificial light at night will likely not re-bloom.
Be aware that both mistletoe berries and milky sap in the leaves and stems of poinsettias can cause stomach upset and mouth tissue irritation if eaten by humans. The consequences are much worse for pets, so place them out of their reach and watch for fallen mistletoe berries.
