If the holidays are just around the corner, your office and home are probably awash with holiday plants. Red, pink and yellow poinsettias perch on cubicle dividers. Amaryllis steadily send their thick bloom stalks skyward. Christmas cactus are either blooming profusely or dropping their buds on the floor, much to the glee or chagrin of their owners.
Some holiday plants, poinsettias in particular, are grown to be disposed of after December. Others can easily be kept alive for years. Here is a guide for choosing and caring for holiday plants.
CHOOSING POINSETTIAS
1. Examine the tiny yellow-green flowers at the ends of the branches. If more than one or two are open, the poinsettia will not hold its freshness for long. Poinsettias are typically sent to stores in several shipments. Ask to look at the latest arrivals before you inadvertently pick up one that has been there for weeks.
2. Poinsettia leaves should be green and healthy almost down to the soil level. If the plant has dried out in storage, the bottom leaves are the first to wilt and disappear.
POINSETTIA CARE AFTERWARDS
If the plant came in a foil wrapper, check for water at the bottom before you add more moisture to the plant. Poinsettias are accustomed to soil that_ج
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