Rodd's Seeds of Wisdom Horticultural tips and tricks from Rodd Moesel

Christmas is just over a week away and it seems when I was growing up mid December is when we brought poinsettias into our homes or businesses and moved in the cut Christmas tree.  Christmas decorating really started about ten to fourteen days before Christmas.   Over the years everything for Christmas has started earlier and earlier from shopping to decorating to parties.  Even our poinsettia has evolved with new varieties to stay in bract or full color for weeks and even months with a little basic care.  Many of you may have purchased and decorated with poinsettias as early as Thanksgiving and may be able to enjoy their color and beauty all the way to Valentines or St. Patrick’s Day.  Others may like the tradition of adding poinsettias this weekend or even closer to Christmas to enjoy their red, white, pink or patterned bracts for Christmas and though the winter.

If you got a cut Christmas tree make sure to keep it standing in water to slow down how quick it dries out and to extend its life in your home.  This is the perfect time to set up a live Christmas tree that you can then plant out in your yard to enjoy for years to come.  Live Christmas trees do best if only kept indoors for ten to twenty days.  If you keep them in a warm dry home for too long, they will dry out and drop needles and it will reduce your chances of success when you transplant the live Juniper, Pine or Spruce out into your yard.  Make sure to place the live tree in a container with drain holes and set it in a saucer to collect drained water. Water the live tree every five to seven days while it is in your warm home.  A live tree will generally not look as impressive and full as cut tree but it is a great way to make memories with your family and then add to your landscape and commemorate those memories for years to come.

If you have an apartment or limited spaces consider using a Norfolk Island pine as your miniature Christmas tree.  You can save it to use as a beautiful and interesting house plant after the Christmas celebrations are over. There are many other interior plants you can use to add color and life to your Christmas celebrations.  Cyclamen (shooting star plant), amaryllis, kalanchoe, orchids, English Ivy wreathes or trees and many other house plants can add color, fresh oxygen and fun to your holiday celebrations.

There is still plenty of time to get the perfect Christmas gift for your gardening family and friends or even yourself.  Consider a gift of a tree, shrub or plants that have a special meaning or interest for that person or a gift certificate from their favorite nursery, garden center or florist.  Live plants or a fresh floral bouquet are always a great gift for Christmas parties or events.  There are unlimited gift possibilities from hobby greenhouses to tools, wheelbarrows or carts, gloves and gardening clothes or nice decorative containers. Gardeners will appreciate a membership in the Oklahoma Horticulture Society or their favorite garden society or club.   A membership in the Myriad Gardens Conservatory is a special treat they will enjoy all year long.  Don’t forget gardening books and magazines or a card with an offer to help with their yard work later this year.

We wish you and your family a very Merry Christmas and would encourage you to get out and enjoy the Christmas color at the Myriad Gardens Conservatory, Will Rogers Park Conservatory and Gardens and in neighborhoods across our state. It is exciting to see the extra beauty of our trees, shrubs and homes when they are dressed up in Christmas lights.

Thanksgiving the holiday is over for another year although life is best when we have a heart and attitude of Thanksgiving year round.  Now our attention has shifted to the Christmas Season.  Many have already engaged in Black Friday Christmas shopping, hanging and touring Christmas light displays and the start of holiday celebrations and gathering.  The weather has been so moderate that it works well for hanging wreaths, greens and Christmas lights.  We may have the best Christmas light displays across our neighborhoods in years since the weather has been so cooperative.  This is also a great time to plant the tulip and daffodil bulbs you have already purchased and that are still in your shopping bag.  Better yet, go buy some spring flowering bulbs and get them planted so you can enjoy a great flower show to announce the arrival of spring next March and April.  Buy a few pre-cooled bulbs and force some hyacinths, tulips, daffodils or paperwhites to enjoy indoors before spring arrives. This is also a great time to plant trees and shrubs to landscape your yard.  They will need some watering when we face dry stretches of time, like right now.  Trees planted now will still start to root in at their new home and will be a little better prepared for the heat of summer. 

There are many great gifts for gardeners from plants to tools, books and memberships, gift certificates and even offering to work together to create a new flowerbed or to help with pruning.  Few holidays have their own plant but Easter has the Easter lily and Christmas has the poinsettia.  The poinsettia is a relatively recent tradition as it was only introduced in the United States in the early 1830’s.  Joel Poinsett of Charleston, South Carolina had a colorful career traveling Europe, Russia, Chile and Argentina, was elected to the South Carolina State House of Representatives, then Congress.  He resigned Congress in 1825 to become our first Ambassador to the newly independent country of Mexico.  During his time in Mexico, working to assist them adopt a constitution and dealing with defining the United States – Mexico boundary he discovered the native Flor de Nochebuena or Christmas Eve Flower near Taxco de Alarcon, South of Mexico City.  Poinsett was an accomplished amateur botanist and sent starts back to his plantation in South Carolina and other plant geek friends in our young country.  By 1836 the plant was widely known as the Poinsettia, in his honor, and has grown in popularity over the decades.  It is widely grown as an outdoor bedding plant in Australia and New Zealand but in America we think of it as the Christmas flower and grow them in containers to flower from Thanksgiving past Christmas.  Poinsettias bloom with short days so their flowering can be timed based on day length.  When I was a youngster the varieties all grew several feet tall before flowering and the bracts were often only colored and pretty for a few weeks.  Growers would try to have them ready by mid December and they were showy to New Year’s Day or a little later.  As a result of breeding and selection we now have shorter varieties that work great for table centerpieces and other decorations.  The modern varieties are often colored up by Thanksgiving and with a little attention to light and watering will often stay colorful into March and April of the following year.  Adventurous gardeners can enjoy them outside on the patio or porch next spring and summer and then expose them to short days next fall to rebloom their poinsettia for another year.  The flower is actually a small yellow boat shaped flower that sits above the bracts or colored leaves that most folks think of as the poinsettia flower.  The true flowers are not very spectacular but the colored bracts can be stunning in their traditional red, the many tones of pink, orange, white or marble tones.  Get yourself in the Christmas spirit by selecting several poinsettias to decorate your home along with your Christmas tree, wreaths and greens.  There are a number of other plants that do well inside to decorate for the holidays including amaryllis, cyclamen, cineraria and calceolaria so select the flowers you enjoy to liven up your home and have a happy and blessed Christmas Season.