No one wants to imagine the worst case scenario when it comes to their holiday flowers, flowering plants or other live holiday décor. A few simple tips will make sure that everything from your cut flowers, flowering plants, greenery, and tree look beautiful and fresh throughout all of your holiday entertaining and festivities.
Tips for Cut Flowers
In case you’ve decided to add cut flowers or decorative greenery to your holiday decorating scheme, the first thing you need to do is remove leaves, pine needles or any growth from however much of the stem you intend to have in water. Then, make a point of cutting a small part of the stem off – at an angle.
After this, make a point of spilling out the vase water every day and replenish it with fresh water. Also check the flower stems to make sure they aren’t getting soggy or icky. If there’s any sign that the stems aren’t in ideal shape, cut away the part that looks bad.
You may find that some flowers just don’t survive as long as others. Don’t leave the bad-looking flowers in your arrangement. Get rid of them, and recreate the arrangement and put it in another dish or vase, if necessary. By the time you’ve had to cut off most of the flower and greenery stems, you may want to consider using floral foam and arranging the remaining flowers in a shallow dish.
Tips for Christmas Trees
As soon as you get your live Christmas tree home, the first thing you should do is saw off two inches of the trunk. This helps the trunk soak up water so the tree looks good for as long as possible. Choose a secure Christmas tree stand that will hold a significant amount of water. Keep a full watering can close to the tree as a reminder that you need to give it fresh water every day.
Tips for Poinsettias and Christmas Cacti
These tropical natives don’t tolerate extreme fluctuations in temperature. They also don’t like very cold temperatures. Ironically, however, both prefer to be in cooler temperatures, so if you want either of these flowering holiday plants to do well for you, plan to turn your thermostat down lower than you typically set it. Maintain Poinsettia daytime temperatures at or below 70 degrees F, and Christmas cacti at daytime temperatures between 60 and 70 degrees F. Nighttime temperatures should be around 60 to 62 degrees F.
Remove your potted flowering holiday plants from the foil, paper or other outer wrapper that covers the pot. If you don’t remove it, the plant will sit in water, and this can cause the roots of both types of plants to rot quickly.
To keep plants from sitting in water, and to provide some extra humidity, especially if your house is excessively dry, find a shallow that is wider than the diameter of the pot. Fill it with colored floral glass, pebbles or even marbles. Place the pot on top of the glass, marbles or pebbles to raise it out of any water run-off.
Don’t expose your flowering holiday plants to drafts – either from leaky windows, heating vents, or doorways. Be sure to give them enough indirect, but bright light without burning bracts or leaves from intense direct sun exposure.
