Gardening with Karl

Nothing says Christmas like the poinsettia

The poinsettia is a flashy plant that has become an annual favourite, grown for its brightly coloured bracts that are often discarded after their flowers have faded.

Primarily grown for use as Christmas gifts or as a house plant, they are particularly popular in festive floral displays with their striking red and green foliage. Around a staggering eight million poinsettia plants are grown and sold annually in the UK, making it the second most popular houseplant after the orchid.

Poinsettias need a bright but filtered light away from draughts and strong sunlight. They dislike the cold and particularly dislike being overwatered. If they wilt a little it can be easy to give them further water which adds to the problem and they quickly deteriorate, so keep them on the dry side.

The red flowers are not really flowers but bracts. The flowers consist of the small green and yellow petals at the centre although they can be found in other colours. The most popular is the red variety.

Native to Central America and Mexico, the Aztecs used them for decorative and medicinal purposes. They are used to a fair amount of sunshine so place yours on a well-lit windowsill or bright place. Reblooming of a plant is never easy. Whilst this can be done it will require greenhouse-like conditions and can be a tedious task requiring lots of patience.

Although nothing says Christmas quite like the poinsettia, the other popular plant given as a gift is the cyclamen, they bring a welcome burst of colour to the home. They require as much light as possible at this time of year and try to keep them out of hot, stuffy rooms.

Perfect in a table display the cyclamen will brighten up any cool, dull corner. They are sensitive to watering both over and under, try to keep the soil moist but not wet and preferably water from the bottom of the pot. Do not let water touch the leaves or the flower stems as this can cause them to rot.

After your cyclamen has finished flowering it will go into a dormant stage when it should be kept dry. This will end when new growth starts to grow out of the corm or tuber. Once new leaves start to grow resume normal care and your plant should re-flower shortly after.

It is too late now to grow your own hyacinths for Christmas gifts but ready made arrangements with the hyacinths just nosing out of the bulb are perfect as a gift. Keep them in a cool place until you are ready to give them, watering only infrequently. They will quickly swell and flower on being brought into a warm place, filling the room with a heady perfume.

Wagon House Gardens at the Jinney Ring Craft Centre will have a large selection of prepared hyacinths in a variety of pots, bowls and containers for you to choose from.

I always take one home for the hallway and find that the white varieties are often the most fragrant. So as the year draws to a close, I hope you have found some interest and helpful tips in my column over the year. All that remains for me to say Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you all.

Karl Strawbridge

Wagon House Gardens The Jinney Ring Craft Centre, Hanbury, B60 4BU Tel: 01527 821421

Jobs in the garden for December

Protect any tender plants from the cold with fleece or move them to a sheltered spot Hard prune overgrown shrubs between now and February Gather any fallen leaves from around roses and burn them, do not add to compost Tie in any plants or shrubs that need stacking to prevent wind damage