Blue poinsettias. Rosemary topiaries. Boxwood trees. some truly unnatural plant gifts show up around garden centers, flower shops and other stores as holiday gifts this time of year.
Which make the best gifts, and which are just passing fancies? Especially if you’re not a plant-o-phile yourself, I’d like you to know exactly what you’re getting and how to keep them alive or at least pretty for as long as possible.
Blue poinsettias, really?
Must we? That was my reaction the first time I saw a shelf full of purple, blue, silver and orange poinsettias in a chain store. I could see they were painted because when I peeked under the petals, the layer underneath was half white.
I also thought, “Why mess with a perfectly gorgeous plant –a large shrub or small tree from Mexico originally –that has brilliant red bracts? Isn’t red enough?” After all, poinsettias
have been a Christmas tradition since the 16th century. They’re also called Noche Buena for Christmas Eve.
Then I saw more artistic and carefully sprayed or hand-painted jobs done by artistic folks at garden centers, fine stores and growers. OK, there’s room for blue poinsettias. not that my opinion mattered.
The trend started in Europe but moved methodically into our market over the last several years. Red doesn’t fit everybody’s decor, after all. maybe your living room needs blue or purple, or it’s Grandma’s favorite color. And no true flowering plants can offer as much of any color over an extended period as well-tended poinsettias.
As if blue or mauve weren’t enough, designers also add sparkles
to some of the colorful poinsettias. you may see glitter, stripes, sponge-painted or dotted effects, depending on the artist’s imagination. some people paint and dry the bracts or leaves, and then spray on adhesive, and sprinkle on sparkles or fake snow.
Some styles even have brand names now. Look for Happy Hanukkah (blue with silver sparkle) and Happy new Year (white or painted yellow with confetti dots). It’s all about style, taste and fun.
What buyers need to know: Look at the paint job, as you would with a piece of furniture. a careful painter lifts the top bracts and gets under them as much as possible, although perfection is not realistic. Bracts and leaves do drop sometimes, and you want to delay that patchwork look as long as possible.
When you’re home, be careful to water the soil, not the painted portion, since the dye might run onto the furniture.
This poinsettia needs the same care as any: Water when the soil starts to feel dry or the plant is light; poke holes in the pot or foil cap, so the plant never sits in its own water; cool the room at night; cover the plant on the way home, and keep it away from heaters or cold drafts.
If you grow it on through summer, it will outgrow the paint job and turn into (usually) a white poinsettia — not a bad thing at all.
Bonsai and topiaries
There are some very cool plant gifts for collectors and decorators that require some expertise to form. you need to know what you’re buying, though, or it could have a sad ending.
• Bonsai: the word refers to the ancient Japanese art of dwarfing or miniaturizing a plant — usually a tree — through pruning and root-controlling techniques.
Pronounce it “bone-sigh.” the “bone” half of the word refers to the tray or low, flat container used to grow them. Bonsai mastery can take a lifetime. for now, when you select a bonsai, the most important thing to decide is whether you want a tropical plant that can remain indoors (such as a ficus, schefflera or boxwood), or a cool climate tree that requires a cold place for winter.
Ask an expert which are which, and read plant tags. Most bonsai plants are really trees — woody ornamentals — that must be allowed winter dormancy.
If you buy your sweetheart a bonsai oak for her dorm room, it will drop its leaves in fall and eventually die. If you do learn to tend a bonsai, you will develop a humbling amount of awe for the horticultural artists who have grown individual plants for centuries, or even thousands of years.
• Topiaries and other clipped plants: the word “topiary” correctly refers to trees or shrubs that are pruned into shapes. (They are not bonsai unless they are growing in a tray or low, flat dish, and then pruned according to traditional forms.)
If an artistically or whimsically clipped shrub or tree grows in a regular pot or in the soil, it’s a topiary.
Just as with bonsai, you should check if the cute little plant sculpture in the garden center is intended to be a houseplant or whether it needs a cold period for dormancy. a lollipop-shaped juniper won’t live long indoors.
A rosemary or lavender (both semi-woody plants) make a delightful topiary for growing inside, given enough light and humidity, but even it will do better if you can retire it to a nonfreezing, cool room for winter months.
Some indoor plants take well to clipping into shapes, and it’s fun to experiment. See what you can shape out of a ficus, schefflera, jade tree or other succulents.
• Boxwood trees: I have noticed that some people think the tabletop boxwood trees are really live plants, and they’re surprised to find they are handcrafted by sticking tiny boxwood clippings into the moist spongy product called “oasis” that florists use.
If you take a workshop on making them you’ll understand why they cost a few dollars; it takes time to make a miniature tree.
Best plant gifts
Other seasonal favorites make great gifts, whether they become long-term houseplants or just visit for a season.
Norfolk Island pines are wonderful houseplants, and Christmas cacti give us long-lasting blooms for so little effort; mine is bursting with blossoms now.
Frosty ferns are pretty, indoor ferns flecked with white. Cyclamen are true beauties, worth their own column. My personal favorite gift plant is an Amaryllis in a kit, since even the most insecure, nonplant person can grow a spectacular, colorful bulb with minimal effort.
As with any plant gift, you want to keep pets and children in mind. many gift plants and bulbs are poisonous if chewed — narcissus, mistletoe plant and berries, holly berries, lilies, etc.
Poisonous plant information is available from many sources such as the Animal Poison Control Center of ASPCA (apcc.aspca.org— under “pet care” heading.)
We plant people all started somewhere, so lure your family and friends into horticulture one little gift plant at a time!
Sally Cunningham is a garden writer, lecturer and consultant.