Festive House Plant Care Guide

How to care for Poinsettia

No Christmas home is complete without a Poinsettia (Euphorbia pulcherrina), with their colourful, brightly coloured bracts they add a festive feel to your home and make an ideal present.

• Cold conditions and draughts damage the foliage on these plants, so be careful where you position them in your home. For example, allowing the leaves to touch a cold window will cause leaf drop.

• To keep it blooming, the temperature should be a minimum of 13 °C -15°C and up to 18°C during the day.

• They like indirect sunlight, so near to a sunny window sill, free from draught, in a warm room is ideal.

• Water your poinsettia when the soil feels dry to touch or just pick up the pot, if it’s light, it will need watering.

• Do not let it sit in water in the saucer. Overwatering is the quickest way to kill your poinsettia.

How to care for Cyclamen

Indoor cyclamen flower profusely through the festive period. With showy blooms in shades of red, white and pink, they form an essential part of any Christmas display.

• Cyclamen are easy to grow with a little care and will flower for six to eight weeks.

• They are happy in cooler bright rooms.

• Keep away from direct sunlight.

• Water when the soil begins to feel dry and directly into the soil, avoiding direct contact with the leaves and stems.

• Deadhead regularly by tugging them away gently as this will prolong flowering.

How to care for Amaryllis

The word Amaryllis means ‘to sparkle’ and it certainly does that! Amaryllis are popular at Christmas due to the colourful blooms. It’s also a traditional gift for your loved ones and can even bloom on Christmas day.

• Amaryllis are best suited to indirect sunlight / part shade. Too much sunlight can burn the foliage, however not enough, may reduce the flowering period.

• It’s a tropical plant and loves a warm temperature of approx. 20C. Once the leaves and bud have emerged, you can move it somewhere cooler.

• When initially planting the bulb, water it thoroughly. After this water less often until the growth starts to appear. Keep the soil moist but not water logged.

Tips to Make a Christmas Tree Last Longer

Choose an appropriate location for your Christmas tree

An important part of how to make a Christmas tree last longer is to choose a good location in your house. Place the tree away from heating vents or cold drafts. Constant heat or fluctuating temperatures can speed the drying out of a tree. Also avoid placing the tree in direct, strong sunlight. The sunlight can also make the tree fade faster.

Watering your Christmas tree

It is essential to how to keep a Christmas tree alive that once you cut the trunk of the Christmas tree, the cut has to stay moist. Make sure to fill the stand immediately after you cut the trunk. But, if you forget, most trees will be ok if you fill the stand within 24 hours. But your Christmas tree will stay fresh longer if you fill it as soon as possible. If you want to make a Christmas tree last longer, just use plain water. Studies have shown that plain water will work as well to keep a Christmas tree alive as anything added to the water. Check the Christmas tree stand twice a day as long as the tree is up. It is important that the stand stays filled. A Christmas tree stand normally holds a rather small amount of water and a Christmas tree can quickly use up the water in the stand.

Recutting the stem on the Christmas tree

When caring for a live Christmas tree, remember a Christmas tree is essentially a giant cut flower. Unless you cut your own Christmas tree, the vascular system that draws water up into the Christmas tree will have clogged. Cutting off just a ¼ inch of the bottom of the trunk will remove the clogs and open up the vascular system again. You can cut more off if you need to for height reasons. Many people wonder if there is a special way to cut the trunk to help with keeping your Christmas tree fresh. A simple straight cut is all that is needed. Drilling holes or cutting at angles will not improve how well the Christmas tree takes up water.

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