Planting for the Holidays

Hello again! I had to return to the big white house yesterday to finish a few details and realized I had neglected to make 2 relatively important points in my blog.....first, when you are decorating the outside of your home, be sure you really do secure everything - none of this just tucking it in: one good gust of wind will carry it away for sure -case in point: I had placed sprigs of dried statice in the windowboxes only to discover them scattered about the lawn. They are now wired to the juniper in the boxes! Secondly, if you want those fresh branches to continue to look fresh, it is helpful to condition them.

Conditioning is a process that gets fresh water up into the plant after it has been cut. This should be done with any flowers or plant material , especially indoors. Gather your branches, give them a fresh cut , trying to do it on a 45 degree angle to give more surface to absorb the water. Place the branches (stems) in a pail of water and leave for at least an hour. Now you can proceed to arrange them wherever needed. Recutting will not affect the conditioning. You will see a diiference in their life time...I promise.

Speaking of plants and Christmas...have you started your paperwhites and amaryllis? If you want them to bloom this month, you had better do it now.

Amaryllis are those big bold plants that almost seem top-heavy and nearly always appear as red. In fact, they also come in white, pink, candy-striped. They are so easy to grow and you can keep them from year to year. Fill a pot no bigger than 2 inches in diameter than the bulb with potting soil. Place the bulb 1/3 of the way down, firm the soil and water sparingly. Place in a warm (60 degrees) spot out of direct sunlight. Once growth begins-anywhere between 2 weeks and a month -water as necessary to keep the soil slightly moist to the touch. Now if all that sounds too complicated, you can place the bulb in a tall cylinder of a vase - clear or otherwise - that has been filled witha few inches of pebbles or those colored stones you find in the dollar store. Add water to cover about 1/2 the bulb and place in a warm spot -as above- and wait for your blooms. The tall vase helps in support but when bulbs are grown in water they can not grow another season.

Paperwhites are everyone's answer to a green thumb. You can plant them in soil but why bother when success is yours with a bowl and some pebbles! Simply cover the bottom of a pretty bowl or a cylindrical vase with a layer of glass stones , or pebbles. position the bulbs on top with pointed end up! and add water to cover the stones. Exposure is the same as for the amaryllis but watch the water level since it tends to evaporate quickly. I like to plant several bowls a week a part to keep a succession of blooms throughout the season. Generally, they bloom within 2 to 3 weeks after planting. If you don't want them to grow to their usual 18", add a tsp. of gin or vodka to the water when you first set them out. It really does stunt their growth.

I know that pointsettias are synonomous with the season but I must confess that, having tried, these are left best to the professional growers. But do take advantage of living plants to accent your holiday decor...they make all those fake greens come alive. Afterall, they add to The Good LIfe!