How to Keep Christmas Plants Thriving (After the Holidays!)

Tip to Care for Holiday Plants

• Holiday plants require bright light during the day for the brightest color (at least 6 hours a day), but they don’t like direct light that could fade or burn the leaves. In the winter, east-facing windows are best.
• Place away from drafts, heating vents, doors, and hot appliances. Cold drafts will cause leaves to drop. No part of the plant should touch the cold glass. Excess heat can dry out the plants too much.
• All of these Christmas plants prefer semi-cool conditions, with temperatures between 60° to 70°F (16° to 21°C).
• Soil should be moist but not soggy. Do NOT overwater, which is the most common cause of death. Only water when the top inch or two of soil feels dry to the touch. If underwatered, plants wilt and shed leaves.
• Don’t let the plant sit in water or water-filled saucers, as this causes root rot. Be careful to remove any foil that may gather water. Treat the saucers like water catchers, and 30 minutes or so after a good watering, detach them from the sink and let them drain out.
• Fertilizer is never recommended while the plant is in bloom. Fertilize only if you decide to keep them after their holiday bloom. 
• Most holiday plants like humidity. Add plants nearby to aid humidity. Use a humidifier or place plants on a tray filled with pebbles and water to increase relative humidity.

1. The Poinsettia

We’re going to be blunt here: Poinsettias are tropical plants grown in greenhouses, and they may not rebloom easily. 

But let’s start by taking care of this holiday gift with the tips above. Plus, see our Poinsettia Care Guide here.
Then, if we’re lucky, we’ll encourage it to rebloom, too! If need be, mark these steps on your calendar:

• Through March, just water your poinsettia as usual.
• In early April, decrease watering. The soil needs to get very dry between waterings; however, don’t let the stem shrivel up!
• In late April (2 weeks later), move your poinsettia to an area with no sunlight for about 12 to 15 hours every night and keep the plant at 60°F.
• In May, cut back the stems to about 4 inches. Then, repot the plant in fresh potting soil. Move back into a well-lit window and start watering. At this time, start fertilizing at 2-week intervals.
• When nighttime temperatures no longer fall below 50°F (10°C), move the pot outside into a partially shaded location. Keep watering and fertilizing.
• Starting in July, pinch back each stem about an inch to keep the plant bushy and compact. Continue pinching new stems, leaving three to four leaves on each branch.
• In mid-August, it’s time to move the plant back inside to a well-lit window. Keep watering and fertilizing.
• To initiate flowering, the poinsettia needs long nights in complete darkness starting in early October. Cover the plant with a cardboard box or keep it in a closet from about 5 P.M. to 8 A.M. and water sparingly. During the day, bring it back out to the window.
• In early December, when buds form, stop the dark treatment.
• Stop fertilizing in mid-December. Your plant should be blooming again! If not, don’t give up hope. You still have a nice houseplant, and it may bloom next year.

2. The Christmas Cactus

The Christmas cactus has become a recent favorite of Christmas plants. It’s a succulent houseplant with petals that bloom in a kaleidoscope of colors, including cream, fuchsia, pink, red, and white.

• Plan to water every 2 to 3 weeks, but only water when the top one-third of the soil feels dry to the touch. For example, if the plant is in 6 inches of soil, water when the top 2 inches feel dry. (Use your finger to check!)
• When the soil is sufficiently dry, soak the soil until water runs through the pot’s drainage holes. Place a tray underneath the pot to catch the water. After 10 to 15 minutes, discard any excess water in the tray so that the pot doesn’t sit in water.
• It’s especially important to water well while the plant is flowering.
• From spring through early fall, feed every 2 weeks with a balanced houseplant fertilizer. Feed the cactus monthly in the fall and winter to encourage successful blooming.
• Prune plants in late spring to encourage branching and more flowers. Simply cut off a few sections of each stem; the plant will branch from the wound.
• You can force a Christmas cactus into bloom in much the same way as a poinsettia (see above) by providing long nights starting around October 1. You can also persuade it to flower by subjecting it to cool night temperatures of 50° to 55°F (10° to 13°C) starting in early November.

→ See our new Christmas Cacti Guide for more tips.

3. The Amaryllis

Although amaryllis can be purchased at any stage of development, for many, the real fun is growing their own plant from a bulb. Most amaryllis bulbs are sold already potted and with complete growing instructions. Once watering is started, you can expect magnificent, lily-like blooms of red, pink, white, or orange in 4 to 6 weeks.

If you receive one of these slender beauties this season, don’t toss the pot once the flowering ends. After flowering, grow the amaryllis as a foliage plant until the leaves turn yellow.

Once the blossoms have faded, cut off the flower stalk, but keep the leaves growing by placing the pot in a warm, sunny spot. Water regularly and fertilize weekly with a balanced houseplant fertilizer. This is when next year’s buds are formed within the bulb.

It takes a minimum of four leaves to produce one flower stalk because the buds form in the axils of every fourth bulb scale. Keep the plant growing all summer long; you can even move it outside for the summer. Bring it in at the end of August, and cut OFF the watering. Let it dry out to induce a period of dormancy. Put the pot in a cool (around 50°F), dark place. Pull off any dried-up leaves.

Then, store the potted bulb on its side in a cool, dark room or basement to rest for 8 to 10 weeks. When new growth appears, repot the bulb and return it to the light to start the cycle again and put on another show!

To induce flowering in time for Christmas, bring the plant into a warm, sunny location and resume watering around in early to mid-November.

We would recommend repotting at this time to give the bulb better soil. Or, if you don’t feel like it, just scrape off the top 2 inches or so of loose soil and replace it with fresh soil. In about 6 to 8 weeks, the amaryllis should be in full bloom again.

→ Get our Growing Guide for Amaryllis for more tips.

4. The Cyclamen

There’s one more Christmas favorite that’s been popping up in stores recently—the cyclamen plant! With upswept petals and pretty foliage, the cyclamen comes in cheerful red as well as white and pink. These plants like bright, indirect light and need to have their soil kept moist (but not soaked). If kept too warm, they will go dormant, meaning that they’ll stop blooming and drop foliage.

If you wish to keep your cyclamen blooming, here’s how:

• In early spring, cyclamens naturally stop blooming; leaves will turn yellow as the plants go dormant. Gradually reduce water until June and pick off the dead leaves. Set the plants outside in partial shade, and water and feed regularly. Do not wet the center of the plant.
• In early June, stop watering altogether and expose the corms to full sun.
• At the end of July, begin watering again. When the corms begin to develop young leaves, replant in a larger pot.
• Bring the plant back inside in early fall. They will usually start producing new leaves and flower buds soon, and you will have recycled your cyclamen!

→ See our full Cyclamen Growing Guide for more details.

5. The Christmas Tree

Let’s start with the obvious: if your tree is cut, it’s already dead. To keep a tree means it was bundled and burlapped or in a container, which means the roots are still attached. 

And, let’s also explain: Buying cut plants is not a bad thing; it supports farms and is renewable. Just make sure you buy from a sustainable Christmas tree farm that replants its trees like any other crop. The best-selling evergreens come Christmas time include Balsam, Douglas, and Fraser firs. 

• The trick is simply WATER.  When you bring your tree home, you’ll need to saw an inch off the bottom of the trunk before setting it in water. When trees are cut, pitch oozes out and seals the pores. 
• By sawing off the base, you will open up the pores, and the tree can absorb water. A straight cut is fine; there’s no need to cut at an angle. You can cut even more off the bottom if you need to fit the tree in your home. Never trim the bark, though.
• Put in water IMMEDIATELY once you get home, even if it’s in a pail in the garage. Make sure you have a tree stand with a 1-gallon capacity. The tree will drink up to a quart of water for every inch of its stem diameter. 
• A freshly cut tree can consume a gallon of water in 24 hours! Fill the tree stand with water and keep it filled. Never let the water level go below the tree’s base. Plain water is fine.
• Indoors, keep the tree away from heating ducts or other heat sources. The lower the temperature, the better the tree will do.

And don’t forget the many ways to recycle that Christmas tree when the holidays are over.

What are your favorite holiday plants? We would love to hear about them!