TCC horticulture department shares tips for happy holiday plants

Keep holiday plant ‘guests’ happy with proper care

By Horticulture Professor John Kahre

The holidays are great times to celebrate with friends and family. My family has hosted a number of friends from foreign counties. We always learn a great deal from these visits, but sometimes worry about making our friends comfortable in unfamiliar surroundings and unfamiliar customs.

My family also host plants during the holidays that come from other countries. Two of the plants that we like are poinsettias and kalanchoes. Like our international friends, these plants require some special care to make them comfortable in our homes.

Poinsettias are native to Mexico and only bloom in the time of the year when the daytime light is a shorter time than the nighttime darkness. They are used to an environment that provides them with a humidity of around 60 percent and a nighttime temperature of around 65 degrees. They also like a lot of light to keep from losing their leaves. Water is also a must. If these friends dry out, they usually do not recover. We always enjoy these as guests in our home until the first of the year when they usually wear out their welcome.

Kalanchoes are from Madagascar. This region of the world is known for producing unusual plants .A plant needs to be pretty tough to make it in this part of the world. These plants have a very attractive red bloom made up of many small blooms. The leaves are rather fleshy as many succulents are. These friends will tolerate lower humidity and will do pretty good in the cooler temperatures that we maintain in our home in the winter. This plant can dry out if you decide to go away for a few days and leave your guest alone. But, if you provide a high amount of light, your friend will look attractive and you will welcome it all year long.