With its vivid red color, the poinsettia has been the quintessential Christmas variety. But look where, it is no longer the only one.
Nougats of different flavors, gifts for everyone, reunions with the family, nativity scenes and mangers, grapes… Christmas is full of traditions and decorating the house with a Christmas look is one of them. And plants are fundamental to creating a natural Christmas.
Get the most out of the Poinsettia and fill the house with simple flower arrangements
If there is a plant that is the image of Christmas, it is the poinsettia or poinsettia, with the permission of the clear fir tree. The red poinsettias are the best known, but we can also find them in other shades such as pink, white, or yellow, and the most beautiful: the speckled ones, as in the photo above, a Stars for Europe proposal.
Play with the pots. Change the original pots for others of different sizes and textures. Use jute, burlap or wool fabrics in shades of green and red to decorate the containers.
What other plants can help you give a Christmas air in other corners of the house?
The nandina or sacred bamboo, the Christmas cactus, the winter rose or hellebore, mistletoe and holly. And, also, branches of fir, pine, ivy and even heather or a few clusters of red berries.
DIY arrangements: You can make centerpieces by placing some plants inside a rectangular or circular container. Put a bed of perlite for drainage and fill in the holes with a few branches of arizonica or eucalyptus. Environment, from Starts for Europe.
Other plans for #flowerfans: sign up for the floral workshops that many florists will organize in the coming weeks —the Savia Bruta ones for Christmas arrangements are at the end of November and beginning of December, but throughout the year they have workshops and courses that are very interesting—and discover the treasures of Christmas pop-ups, such as Sally Hambleton’s.
You have no excuse not to fill your house with plants at Christmas. And it’s not that we want to take away from the Christmas tree or the Poinsettia, but there are many other winter plants that are perfect for decorating your house (inside and out) during the coldest days of the Christmas holidays.
1 Christmas Rose
The hellebore or Christmas rose is another of our favorites for winter. Alpine in nature, it is able to withstand snowfall and low temperatures with ease.
2 Natural spruce
To maintain it year after year, you must make sure, when buying it, that it is rooted in its container.
interior . Keep it away from direct heat sources: radiators, stoves, or fireplaces. Find the coolest and most ventilated place in the house, if possible, near the windows. Water every 2 or 3 days with plenty of water, so that it reaches the roots. Do it in two batches and spray the branches to keep them moist.
Exterior. After the holidays, the most important thing is to find a place outdoors. If you are going to transplant it in the garden, do it in a sunny place. Dig a hole 0.5 to 1 meter wide and 0.50 to 0.70 meters deep. Put gravel and water and mix the earth that we have extracted with universal substrate. Extract the root ball, put it in the hole and fill it with the enriched soil.
3 Poinsettias
Poinsettias, crowns, bouquets, garlands and centers are unique to create a special atmosphere. Reserve an afternoon to go to flower shops; There you will find inspiration and discover trends and novelties, because creativity in floral design skyrockets on these dates.
4 Christmas Cacti
The Christmas cactus is beautiful all year round with its fleshy leaves, but the fact that it blooms only in December makes it very special to decorate the Christmas parties.
5 Snowdrop
These beautiful bluebells bloom on the coldest days of winter. It is a herbaceous plant that you can have perfectly in pots on the terrace. It is a very easy bulb to grow.
6 Holly
The intense red of the holly fruits and the green of the leaves make the branches of this plant one of the most decorative for Christmas. Holly is a very resistant shrub that will be ideal in your garden all year round.
7 Mistletoe
The interesting thing about mistletoe is that it is a parasitic plant, it lives on the branches of trees such as apple or poplar trees. In the Middle Ages it was given magical and healing properties. The Celts believed that they promoted fertility and love, hence the Anglo-Saxon tradition of kissing under the branch of mistletoe.
8 Nandina
Also known as sacred bamboo, the nandina is native to Asia and although it is not one of the best-known Christmas plants, the red branches are ideal for decorating the table at Christmas.
9 Cyclamen
Or cyclamen. Now in December you will see all the flower shops and nurseries with beautiful pots full of flowers. There are various colors from white to the most intense red and they will give you flowers all winter.
10 Lily of Algiers
It is a very resistant plant although it may not seem so due to the delicacy of its violet flowers. It withstands frost and will be a perfect decorative object for your house in winter. But don’t cut it, it will be perfect in some planters on the terrace or in the window.
11 Echeveria
One of the most cold-resistant succulent plants. And the most beautiful thing is that there are many varieties, each with different shades of green and pink. Try creating a composition of several Echeverias.
12 Croton
The Codiaeum, as this plant is actually called, has brightly colored leaves that can be very varied both in color and in the shape or size they reach.
13 Hippeastrum or amaryllis
The amaryllis is another bulbous plant that blooms in winter. With an intense red, its flowers are super decorative. Being a bulb, it can bloom year after year, as long as we let it rest for two months without water or fertilizer in a cool, dark place.
14 Firethorn
This shrub is very similar to holly because of its red fruits but it is less toxic making it a more pet friendly shrub for your garden. Quite the contrary, its red, yellow or orange fruits are great food for birds.
15 Butcher’s broom
Another bush similar to Holly and Firethorn but not to be confused with the previous ones. It has very interesting medicinal properties: it is vasoconstrictive and anti-inflammatory.
But we like it more for its decorative oder now at Christmas.
Did you know…? The branches of the butcher’s broom, due to their hardness and resistance, are used to clean the interior of wine barrels.