Gardening: Make Your Home Decor Merry And Bright By Adding Some Holiday Flowers

White paper at home can add simple elegance to your holiday decor.

Now that it's cold in greater Columbus, outdoor gardeners have very little gardening to do. If you're like me and want to start growing again, consider growing some plants for Christmas decorations.

Live plants can add a fun touch to any holiday decor you choose, and gardeners who feel they need to get their hands back to the soil can get back to work by planting traditional holiday trees. Let's take a look at some of the plants that can be grown indoors for Christmas decorations.

Force a white bulb

Consider putting a different spin on traditional greenery this season with red and gold accents, white bulbs add beautiful white flowers to any Christmas decor. Paper white ( Narcissus Tazetta ) blooms like a daffodil, and the delicate, fragrant white and yellow flowers on long, slender stems provide the perfect background for most Christmas decorations and a pop of color against the red of the festive green branches. . Ribbons and bows.

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Forcing is a term used to force a plant to flower outside of its natural season, and most bulbs adapt to forcing. Most flower bulbs, such as tulips, daffodils, hyacinths, etc., can be forced to bloom indoors in winter, but these bulbs must go through a cold period of 3 weeks to 16 weeks for tulips. Mints and amaryllis are the only flower bulbs that do not need a cold period to bloom because they are tropical plants.

Now start the Christmas flower paper blank

Peppers bloom four weeks after planting, so start now for peak blooms in time for the holiday season. Many gardens offer carte blanche for winter planting, with some bulbs already planted and planted in decorative containers. White paper can be grown in clay soil, but can be grown in water without soil with decorative stones, stones or marbles in flower colors.

Part of the fun of making paper quilts for Christmas decorations is choosing containers to put them in. Lights can be placed in Christmas themed containers, vases, teapots, clay pots, vases or anything else that complements the Christmas decorations. Individual bulbs grown in jelly pots make great gifts for housewives or teachers.

Plan ahead and follow our late fall lawn care tips to reap the benefits next spring.

To force white paper without soil, start by adding 1-2 inches of gravel or rock to the bottom of the pot, then place the root ball on top of the rock (next to the tuber). Then place the stones around the lamp until half of the lamp is visible above the stone. Then add water to the bottom of the tube. Lamps should not be placed directly in water. Place the pot in a place that gets plenty of light and add water as needed.

Amaryllis bulbs planted for Christmas decorations

Many red, pink and white amaryllis flowers decorate winter festivals with large trumpet-shaped flowers on long graceful stems. Amaryllis (genus Hippeastrum ) is a perennial plant from Central and South America, and its name comes from the Greek word meaning "shiny," and this collection of plants will add some sparkle to your holiday decor.

These bulbs usually take six to seven weeks to flower after planting, but savvy gardeners can still get blooms for Christmas and New Years by purchasing pre-planted bulbs at local garden centers and gift shops.

To care for amaryllis, be sure to keep soil over the bulbs to help prevent fungal diseases. Water well once a week when the soil is dry. Place it in a sunny window and turn the pot occasionally to prevent the plant from leaning over as the pot grows.

be careful Some popular Christmas plants in the garden are harmful to people and pets.

Bring the poinsettia out of the darkness

If you watered your poinsettia last December during the holiday season and kept the plant in the dark for 12 hours every day for the past 10 weeks, luckily your plant should have had colored bacteria. . (or leaves). Poinsettias are short-day plants that need 10 weeks of continuous darkness every day to grow new shoots.

When the new colored buds are fully grown, you can stop your daily darkness levels and move the plants to a sunny spot among the Christmas decorations. Make sure the soil is moist and stop fertilizing.

Mike Hogan is an extension officer for agriculture and natural resources and an associate professor at OSU Extension.

hogan.1@osu.edu

This article originally appeared in the Columbus Dispatch. gardening Make your home decor fun and bright by adding holiday flowers.