Sacramento Digs Gardening logo
Sacramento Digs Gardening Article
Your resource for Sacramento-area gardening news, tips and events

Articles Recipe Index Keyword Index Calendar Twitter Facebook Instagram About Us Contact Us

How to keep your holiday plants fresh


Christmas cactus need moderate light to bloom. Treat them much like poinsettias. (Photo: Kathy Morrison)

These tips will lengthen the joy of poinsettias, Christmas cactus and evergreens



Did you receive or purchase a holiday plant? Keep poinsettias and other favorites looking their best – at least a little longer – with these expert tips:

Poinsettias

* Poinsettias will last longer if placed in a warm sunny location away from heating vents or drafts. Poke holes in the foil wrapper for drainage and place the potted plant on a plate or saucer.

* Place potted poinsettias indoors in indirect light. Six hours or more of light (natural or fluorescent) is best.

* Keep poinsettias comfortable, ideally between 65 and 75 degrees, day or night. Lower temperatures will make them drop leaves almost immediately and shut down. Higher temperatures also shorten their life cycle.

* Limit their exposure to outside temperatures; they can’t take any chill for extended periods. If using potted poinsettias for a porch display, place them outside just before your guests arrive. Don’t leave them outside overnight.

* The red, yellow or pink bracts are actually modified leaves (not flower petals), but they’ll retain their color long after the true flowers – those little yellow knobs – brown and wither. When choosing a plant, look for tight flowers that haven’t opened. The plant will keep its color longer.

* Check the soil daily. Water the plant when soil feels dry to the touch, but don’t let it get soggy. Allow water to drain into the saucer; discard excess water. Wilted plants tend to drop bracts sooner.

Christmas cactus

* Treat much like poinsettias. These succulents are native to coastal Brazil and prefer temperatures on the warm side, ideally 65 degrees.

* While assuring good drainage, keep soil evenly moist while cactus is blooming, misting it once a day.

* These plants need moderate light to bloom. Place the cactus in an east-facing window so it can get some direct sun.

* To keep this cactus in flower, fertilize every two week with high potassium fertilizer.

Living Christmas trees

* Evergreens aren’t meant to grow indoors; there’s not enough light. Once your celebrating is done, get your tree or other potted evergreens outdoors as soon as possible to limit their stress. Otherwise, they’ll start dropping needles en masse – just like a cut tree.

* While it's indoors, make sure the tree stays watered. Keep the soil moist, not soggy.

* Give the tree as much light as possible, but keep away from heat.

* When transferring outdoors, move the plant back into full sun gradually. Let it acclimate on a semi-shaded patio for a few days as the tree re-adjusts to outside temperatures and light.

Comments

0 comments have been posted.

Newsletter Subscription

Sacramento Digs Gardening to your inbox.

Local News

Ad for California Local

Taste Spring! E-cookbook

Strawberries

Find our spring recipes here!

Thanks to Our Sponsor!

Cleveland sage ad for Be Water Smart

Garden Checklist for week of May 18

Get outside early in the morning while temperatures are still cool – and get to work!

* Plant, plant, plant! It’s prime planting season in the Sacramento area. Time to set out those tomato transplants along with peppers and eggplants. Pinch off any flowers on new transplants to make them concentrate on establishing roots instead of setting premature fruit.

* Direct-seed melons, cucumbers, summer squash, corn, radishes, pumpkins and annual herbs such as basil.

* Harvest cabbage, lettuce, peas and green onions.

* In the flower garden, direct-seed sunflowers, cosmos, salvia, zinnias, marigolds, celosia and asters. Transplant seedlings for many of the same flowers.

* Plant dahlia tubers.

* Transplant petunias, marigolds and perennial flowers such as astilbe, columbine, coneflowers, coreopsis, dahlias, rudbeckia and verbena.

* Keep an eye out for slugs, snails, earwigs and aphids that want to dine on tender new growth.

* Feed summer bloomers with a balanced fertilizer.

* For continued bloom, cut off spent flowers on roses as well as other flowering plants.

* Are birds picking your fruit off trees before it’s ripe? Try hanging strips of aluminum foil on tree branches. The shiny, dangling strips help deter birds from making themselves at home.

* As spring-flowering shrubs finish blooming, give them a little pruning to shape them, removing old and dead wood. Lightly trim azaleas, fuchsias and marguerites for bushier plants.

Taste Summer! E-cookbook

square-tomatoes-plate.jpg

Find our summer recipes here!

Taste Fall! E-cookbook

Muffins and pumpkin

Find our fall recipes here!

Taste Winter! E-cookbook

Lemon coconut pancakes

Find our winter recipes here!