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Breaking the Poinsettia Habit
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13859 |
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Section : |
LIFE
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| Issue
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12 / 1988 |
1,649 Words |
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Virginia Greiner
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Your Christmas bills and your Christmas poinsettia are two reminders of the holidays that will be around your house New Year's Day. Everybody seems to start out January with both.
Poinsettias are easy to grow and beautiful, but boring. They're everywhere: splashed over Christmas cards and arranged in churches, stacked in storefront displays, and stashed in every living room in America. Who doesn't have a friend or business associate who is locked in an unending fugue of sending the same old foil-wrapped gift year after year?
But there are many other flowering plants to consider for holiday gifts or for decorating your home if you'd like to break the poinsettia habit. Here are a few choices, and ways to keep them blooming long after Christmas.
AMARYLLIS—Buy this plant when it's not yet in full bloom so you won't miss half the show as these spectacular and enormous flowers open on their tall, fat stems. One plant, with its brilliant, sometimes striped blooms, will dominate the room, so give it a place of honor.
Rotate the pot a quarter-turn regularly to keep the plant from leaning toward the light. To prolong the blossoms, keep it out of direct sunlight and in a cool room. Remove flowers after they've faded, but don't cut off the flower stalk or any foliage.
Once all blooming is over, you may want to make the effort to produce a repeat bloom. To do this, put the plant in a sunny spot. Water to keep the foliage growing to provide food for next year's flowers. Put the potted plant into the ground outside after the last spring frost. Pick a spot with morning sun and light afternoon shade, and keep watering and feeding with a water-soluble fertilizer as directed on the label.
When the leaves have naturally yellowed, bring the amaryllis inside and cut off all foliage and flower stalks. Store the bulb in its container in a cool, dry room for three or four months. Let it dry out completely—but don't forget about it. Then carefully remove the top few inches of old soil and add a fresh layer of two parts potting soil and one part perlite. Water thoroughly, put in a sunny, cool spot with temperatures from fifty-five to sixty-five degrees, and increase watering as the roots develop. It should produce new bloom in about eight weeks.
CYCLAMEN is a less dramatic but equally beautiful plant that can also be coaxed into bloom again. Its exotic-looking pink, white, or red blooms dance like butterflies over a field of patterned silver and green leaves. It makes a low, rounded, and spectacular centerpiece for a party dinner. Showcase it in a silver bowl with small silver and gold ornaments tucked between the stems.
When you shop for a cyclamen, pick the one with the greatest number of buds nestled way down in the center. Don't be afraid to poke around gently to locate them. When you get it home, put it on a saucer of pebbles and water for added humidity.
Wait until the top inch of soil feels dry to the touch, and then water thoroughly. Don't let the tuber (the thing that looks like a bulb) get wet; pour around the sides of it. Use a water-soluble fertilizer
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