Garden Guide With James Kilkelly – Know your Christmas plants

DEPENDING on how many callers visit your home over the holidays, you may receive a traditional Christmas plant as a decorative gift, or perhaps you may be the one giving the plant to a home you visit. Now leaving aside the sparkly, festive container and the commonly attached red bow, what exactly are the dos and don'ts regarding its stay in your home. Here's a look at three of the plants most frequently given over the Christmas period: Christmas cactus This is one resilient specimen and testament to this is that I have one sitting in a room at the end of our house that has bloomed every winter for nigh on ten years. Christmas cactus or to give it its full Latin name Schlumbergera bridgesii can cope with abuse that would leave other indoor plants in a sad state. To be quiet honest, for most of the year the Christmas cactus is quite a drab looking specimen with green segmented leaves and rather fragile joints. Then, in the month of November, the plant begins to produce buds at the tip of each stem. These buds swell to produce stunning blooms and their unreal appearance causes many people to wonder if the plant is actually a man-made reproduction. Depending on the particular variety of Christmas cactus, these blooms can vary from pure white to dark red with every shade of pink in between. My top tip 1 When repotting a Christmas cactus, move it to a pot only a centimetre or two larger. If you allow it too much room it will spend its time growing roots instead of blooming, so beware. Poinsettia A familiar, indoor, Christmas decorative plant, the Poinsettia's greatest asset is the blood-red colour its modified leaves display during the holiday season. These colourful leaves (bracts) easily swamp the plant's quite inconspicuous flowers. Many people class the Poinsettia as a temporary or annual plant, which inevitably means a quick trip to the bin or compost heap after blooming. In spite of this, many thrifty gardeners allow the Poinsettia another year to produce a second seasonal flush before disposing of it. It all comes down to a crucial period of the plant's life-cycle, which is from the first day of October up until the last day of November. During this time you must keep your Poinsettia in complete darkness from 5pm until 8am because this shortened daylight triggers the formation of the colourful bracts. Commercial growers of Poinsettias use time-controlled shutters to regulate sunlight, I suggest you use the less expensive option of a large cardboard box teamed with a black bin bag to cover the plant. Once you get to the first day of December, there is no further need to continue light reduction, only wait for the beautiful red bracts to appear. My top tip 2 For long-lasting colour you should place any newly acquired Poinsettia in a bright and warm location, avoiding draughts from doors and other temperature fluctuations. Christmas cherry (Jerusalem cherry) This cheery orange-berried or red-berried plant, commonly used as an attractive table centrepiece, hides a dark secret. In spite of its common name, the plant is not related to the real cherry at all, and its round fruits are extremely toxic, especially when green and yellow. The plant (Solanum capsicastrum) actually belongs to the same family as the potato, tomato, aubergine, and deadly nightshade. While we all know that the fruits of the tomato and aubergine are benign, the fruit of the potato plant (above ground) is poisonous, as is the aptly named deadly nightshade. Beware a sudden chill caused by opening a door or prolonged dry heat, both of which will cause the Christmas cherry to drop berries early on, possibly into the path of a child or pet. My top tip 3 It's all about safety. I suggest you place the plant's container in the centre of a large plate or a punch bowl if you have one handy. This ensures that any falling fruits will not get a chance to roll off the table and on to the floor. Until next week, happy Christmas, stay safe, and remember that a weed is just a plant in the wrong place.