During this holiday season, a popular gift is a seasonal plant or flower arrangement, most specifically the Christmas Cactus, Poinsettia, Amaryllis, and Hanukkah and Kwanzaa floral arrangements.
The Christmas Cactus is an easy-to-grow plant with beautiful flowers of red, fuchsia, salmon or white. The Christmas Cactus is remarkably resistant to insects and diseases. Propagation is virtually foolproof, and these flat-stemmed plants can live for decades. Flowering time can be November to January, but can often continue through February and March.
One of the most popular, as well as beautiful, decorations of the Christmas season is the poinsettia. The most popular color choice for the Christmas season is deep, velvety red. The poinsettia plant does, however, come in a wide variety of colors which include pink, white, violet, blue, marbled, speckled and yellow. The colorful parts of the poinsettia, the bracts, are actually the leaves of the plant. The small poinsettia flower is the tiny green or yellow growth at the center of the leaves.
The Amaryllis has become a popular holiday plant. It has flamboyant starry trumpets which spring from huge papery bulbs. Thick smooth leafless stems, often more than half a yard tall, are topped by four or five of these large blooms, making an impressive display. The amaryllis comes in many beautiful varieties including various shades of red, white, pink, salmon and orange. There are also many striped and multicolored varieties, usually combining shades of pink or red with white.
Floral arrangements make wonderful gifts for the holidays. Hanukkah is known as the Festival of Lights, with flowers playing a tender and symbolic role. Beautiful arrangements of Hanukkah flowers are usually designed in blue and white, representative of colors of Hanukkah. Arrangements can include roses, lilies, orchids, delphinium, and blue iris. The gift of flowers represents feelings of love, compassion and concern and is a wonderful way to celebrate the joy of Hanukkah with loved ones.
Flowers are also a very popular gift for Kwanzaa, a cultural holiday celebrating of the values of family, community responsibility, commerce and self-improvement African-Americans celebrate Kwanzaa as a time to embrace their heritage and culture. One of the prettiest floral arrangements in the colors of Kwanzaa (red, black and green) is a bouquet of deep purple calla lilies (representing the black) with striking green stems, placed in a clear vase. A red bow can be tied around the vase, or the table the vase sits upon can be decorated with red accents.
The gift of a holiday plant or floral arrangement is a wonderful expression of love and comfort, whether you go with a traditional choice or decide to create your own tradition with a plant or arrangement of your choosing or design. Whichever you decide upon, it is sure to bring a smile and the feeling of genuine gratitude to the lucky recipient.
©2008, KH Adams, Trumbull, CT