Picture it: The bright leaves of a poinsettia serving as a core part in your holiday décor. Or a robust stalk with Amaryllis blooms commanding attention from across the room. A Christmas Cactus bursting with prolific flowers. It’s no wonder these plants and others are so popular during the gray winter months. They are inexpensive, easy to find in plant nurseries and grocery stores, and provide a cheerful spot of color no matter where they’re placed.
The good news is that holiday plants can continue to thrive long after the holiday season! With proper care, you can get perennials to rebloom as part of your indoor garden for years to come. Read on to find out how to keep these plants alive and well.
Poinsettias
A staple of the season, poinsettias have earned the top spot when it comes to holiday blooms. Poinsettias are made up of bracts, or modified leaves (which provide the eye-catching color) that grow from the end of the branches. The real flowers of the plant are actually clustered in the center: tiny yellow flowers called cyathium. Poinsettias come in a variety of colors: Red, pink, white, and hybrid mixes are available, likely as close as your local nursery or neighborhood grocery store.
Poinsettias love bright, but indirect, sunlight to maintain their bracts throughout the winter season. They thrive in humid temperatures ranging from 65° to 70° so keep your poinsettias in a temperate place away from doorways that can bring in cold blasts of air or fireplaces and heating vents where they can be exposed to extreme temperature swings. Proper watering and feeding are key for keeping your poinsettias healthy. Allow the top two inches of soil to dry in between waterings to prevent root rot and feed it once a week during the blooming phase. Be sure to remove any plastic wrap or foil when you bring your poinsettia home to ensure proper drainage. As you’re watering, remove any dead leaves or flowers to extend the blooming season.
To bring it back to life next year, wait until the bracts have dropped off and the stem has withered. Cut the stem to about 6 inches and move it outside when the weather warms up – May is usually a safe bet in Washington. Your plant will thrive with morning sun and afternoon shade. Water it regularly but not as often, and don’t fertilize it at this time. In September, repot it with Lenz Potting Mix, a blend of 60% fine bark, 30% Fine GreenBlenz Compost Organic and 10% pumice. Then move it inside into the same sunny, temperate space.
In October, it’s time to ramp up the growing season. Move your plant to a dark, cool place (garages, basements, or closets are ideal) for 14 hours a day after the sun sets. You can even put a box over it to keep it in the dark. In the day time, bring it out for about 10 hours of bright light to help stimulate the blooms. It takes about two months for the leaves to color and the plant to flower so it’s ready in time for the next holiday!
Amaryllis
Amaryllis are found in a variety of colors and sizes. Big trumpet blooms, double trumpets, and even miniature flowers come in colors ranging from deep red to light pink and white to green. The true spectacle of this plant is its height – some varieties of amaryllis can grow to 36” tall! Watching the bulb grow and bloom is a bit like waiting to open a holiday present; with patience and care, your amaryllis will reward you with a beautiful spectacle.
You can buy amaryllis bulbs at your local nursery or an online retailer. Plant the bulb so that the neck and the top third of the bulb are visible above in good potting soil (we recommend our blend, of course!). Water the soil – not the bulb! – sparingly, keeping the top 2 inches of soil damp. When you see the stem start to appear, water more regularly (this could be daily) to maintain the dampness at the top of the soil. Keep the amaryllis in a warm, bright location— similar to the poinsettia, they don’t like cold drafts. It takes about 8-10 weeks for an amaryllis bulb to sprout and bloom.
Amaryllis blooms for weeks, providing a steady diet of color to enjoy. And when properly cared for, these bulbs can rebloom for up to 20 years! To keep this beauty coming back, cut off dead blooms and cut the stem back to the top of the bulb’s neck, but allow the leaves to continue to grow to give the roots nutrients. Place your plant in a bright window with indirect light and water it throughout the summer, fertilizing it 1-2 times a month. When the foliage gets yellow and floppy – usually in August in Washington – leave the bulb in the soil mixture, cut all the leaves back, stop watering and fertilizing, and let the soil dry out. The bulb is now going dormant, storing reserves for its next blooming season. Move the pot into a dark place, like a closet or a garage, for at least 8 weeks. In late October or early November, replace the soil with fresh Lenz Potting Mix and replant the bulb. Place it in indirect light, watering and fertilizing in the same cycle as last fall, and watch your beauty’s bloom cycle again!
Christmas Cactus
Perhaps one of the easiest plants to care for, the Christmas cactus is a perennial indoor garden favorite that is well known for its abundance of tropical-like flowers and long blooming period. Unlike a traditional desert cactus, this type prefers regular watering to thrive and can’t handle direct sunlight well.
Keep your plant in a bright area with indirect light. If you don’t have a good location with filtered light, put it near an east facing window; the Christmas cactus can handle a bit of morning sunlight.
Your Christmas showstopper doesn’t need special cactus soil; a good, well-draining potting mix like ours will do the trick. During the growing season, keep the soil moist but avoid letting it get soggy. Water it when the top 1-2 inches of soil are dry to the touch.These plants like a bit of moisture and humidity so avoid placing them near a vent where they’ll get too much air blowing on them. Placing the pot on a tray filled with pebbles will let the water drain properly and keep the soil at the right moisture level, and will provide the plant with a bit more of the humidity it craves. This routine will keep your Christmas cactus happy from winter through spring, when it is likely to be flowering during this period. Once the blooms stop, it prefers less light and lower temperatures.
To promote next winter’s flowers, fertilize your cactus in the summer months with regular houseplant fertilizer, but in the fall, use a low-nitrogen fertilizer once a week. This is also the time to move your cactus to a cooler area of your house. As winter approaches, the shorter days with less sunlight also promote the next bloom cycle. Cut back on the watering and switch back to the houseplant fertilizer, and watch it show off once again!
Cyclamen
These hardy beauties are cool – in every sense of the word. Cyclamen, with their heart-shaped leaves and red, pink, purple, or white flowers on short stems, thrive in a cooler room in your home and prefer indirect, bright light. (When they are exposed to higher temperatures, cyclamen will yellow and the flowers will begin to fade.) Water these tubular flowers from the bottom when the surface of the soil looks and feels dry. They like humidity, so placing them in a bathroom window and misting them in between watering will provide the moisture they need. Also known as swinebread or sowbread, these plants bloom in winter or early spring, with lush flowers that last for up to 8 weeks.
Here in Washington, Cyclamen typically go dormant in June or July, when you’ll see the leaves turn yellow and fall off. To enjoy your cyclamen’s blooms again during winter provide it with dry conditions and a period of rest. Leave the plant in the pot and move it to a cool, dark location in your house or garage. Stop watering the plant and let it go dormant. You’ll start to see small sprouts in September or October, which is a sign it’s time to begin watering your cyclamen again. Water lightly at first, and more deeply as the leaves grow. Bring the plant back into indirect light and when the leaves are at their full size again, the blooms won’t be far behind!
Soil, Sun, and H20
The key to proper plant care is the right combination of sunlight, water, and good soil. Lenz potting mix includes GreenBlenz Compost Organic, which provides beneficial nutrients to the soil and allows for good water holding capacity. Specially formulated for potted plants, this mixture will help ensure this year’s holiday plants thrive for years to come. As always, we’re here to answer any questions you have about your planting needs — all year round!
Thanks for Reading!
If you found this article helpful, get to know us by following Lenz Enterprises on Facebook and Instagram. We regularly provide education about soil, compost, and Earth materials, gardening advice and plenty of humor too! If you’re located in western Washington and need soil, compost, mulch, sand, or gravel, give us a call 360-629-2933, we’re here to help.