Many happy returns of the Christmas blooms
Here are some tips for keeping the plants alive after the holidays.
Amaryllis
The key to getting amaryllis bulbs to rebloom is to make sure they have a chance to store up food reserves after flowering. Like daffodils and tulips, the bulb uses up all its reserves putting out the flower and will now need several months to store more.
Remove the blooms as they fade but leave the flower stalk to help produce food. Place the plant in the bright filtered light of an east or south window. Water it only when the soil is dry to the touch. The leaves will begin to die in late spring as the plant goes into dormancy. Once the leaves have faded completely, stop watering and store the bulbs, pot and all, in a cool dark place.
Six to eight weeks before the holidays bring the plant out into bright indirect light in a cool room and water only when the soil surface is dry to the touch. Fertilize lightly with a houseplant fertilizer. The flower stalk should appear soon after.
Poinsettias
Poinsettias are often the stars of the holiday season. They will hold their color well into the early spring and make a very good bright green houseplant year round.
After the holidays, place the plant in a 68- to 70-degree room with bright, indirect light. Keep it away from cold drafty doors and heat vents. Water them when the soil is dry down to the first joint of your finger.
In late spring trim off the old flowering stems and repot the plant into a slightly larger pot. Plant them, pot and all, into a protected garden bed in filtered shade after all danger of frost passes. Water and fertilize regularly through the summer.
In late August when the temperatures begin to cool, bring them indoors and place them where they can receive 13 to 16 hours of uninterrupted darkness daily for 40 days. Even putting them in a room that is lit in the evening can disrupt flower production.
If you are successful, they should begin to color back up around Dec. 1 and be ready for the holidays.
Christmas cacti
Christmas cacti are one of the easiest plants to keep year after year. They usually begin blooming between Thanksgiving and Christmas and finish toward the end of January. Sometimes they will have a small secondary flush later in February.
Water the plants about once a month into the spring. They are dormant at this time and their succulent leaves hold a lot of water so it is easy to overwater them. Don’t fertilize them until midspring, and then only lightly.
Once all danger of frost passes, put them outdoors in filtered sunlight. Mine love spending the summer in a bright but shady spot on my deck. Bring them inside before it frosts.
Pat Munts is co-author of “Northwest Gardener’s Handbook.” She can be reached at pat@ inlandnwgardening.com.