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Plants as Christmas Presents

© Michael Campbell

Once again the festive season is upon us and over the next few weeks many hundred of thousands of plants will be purchased and exchange as Christmas presents. The sad fact of the matter is most of them will be cruelly put to death within two weeks of purchase Those are the ones that are not already dead, or least have one foot in the grave when purchased.

NURSERY CARE:

Most nurseries take good care of their plants and send them out to their customers in first class condition. Their reputation depends on the quality of the plants they sell. But after that they have no control over what happens to the plants and this is where the first problem lies.

POINSETTIAS:

Poinsettias, (Euphorbia pulcherrima) originally from Mexico, are the most popular and well-known pot plants on sale at this time, and have now become symbolic of Christmas. Take a look at where they originated and you can see why they will not stand cold icy winds or frosty condition. Yet thousands of these plants will be displayed in outside market stalls and on footpaths outside shops in the coming week.

Unsuspecting shoppers in a hurry to get that last minute present will snap up most. These plants are already dying before you even purchase them. But because they are tucked up inside a polythene sleeve, no-one suspects anything until they bring the plant to its destination, and remove the sleeve. Within twenty-four hours the leaves have drooped and started to fall and in about three days the display consists of three or four bare stems and couple of tiny red bracts at the top.

I am sure most of you have had this experience, as I have had, when given one of these plants as a present

Poinsettias should only be bought from a reliable source that makes some effort to control the conditions under which these plants are displayed. When buying a Poinsettia look at the true flowers (yellow and tiny in the centre of the flower head); they should be unopened for maximum life. Pink and white varieties are also available,and a new one called Marble Star, has pink bracts edged with white , but I still prefer the traditional red. When you do get your plant home, keep it in a temperature of between 50°F and 60°F degrees, and keep it well away from draughts. I usually stand them on a large plant saucer filled with expanded clay particles (the material used for soil-less pot plant culture) and keep that topped up with water. The plant is then stood on its own plant saucer on top of this so that it cannot absorb the water. This keeps the air around the plant humid, and helps to prevent leaf fall in a centrally heated room.