Deck The Halls

Flowers and greenery for the holiday season.

Add some natural color and pizzazz to your Christmas decorations with seasonal greenery and flowers that bloom at just the right time for this winter celebration. The poinsettia is probably the most popular and beloved flower of the season, thanks to its bright red flowers, green leaves and the fact that its blooming season coincides with Christmas.

The poinsettia was named for Joel Poinsett in the early 1800s, who brought the plant from Mexico to his home in South Carolina. The original poinsettia was leggy and spindly-leafed, but selective breeding made it voluptuous and more colorful. Now you can find poinsettias that bloom white, pink and even candy-cane striped. Potted poinsettias can be big or small and provide a perfect welcoming touch when placed on either side of a doorway. Poinsettias are also popular gifts during this time of year.

The second most popular Christmas plant is undoubtedly the holly. The bright red and green of holly leaves and berries were the inspiration for traditional Christmas colors. Holly boughs can be shaped into mantle or stair rail decorations, as well as beautiful centerpieces. The same goes for ivy, another plant traditionally associated with the season.

Mistletoe, with all of its romantic connotations, is a Christmas tradition dating back to the Druids, who used it in winter festivals. Today, most people hang mistletoe in doorways to provide an excuse for kissing as people meet underneath. Mistletoe is an evergreen plant with lovely yellow or white berries and is usually sold in bunches, making it easy to hang.

There are many other non-traditional floral choices for Christmas. For instance, you could usher in a white Christmas with sweet-smelling paperwhites. These can be purchased in pots from a florist or forced from bulbs in mid-November to bloom right at Christmastime. They’re the perfect potted plant to decorate tabletops, stairwells, hearths or front porches and they provide a lovely fragrance throughout the house.

The Christmas cactus, also known as the Orchid Cactus is a wonderful decoration or a thoughtful gift. Its bright blooms of fuchsia, red, white, pink or yellow only show up during the Christmas season, but the plant can be nurtured to last for years and years, blooming once again each Christmas. The pendulous stems of the Christmas cactus make it the perfect plant for holiday hanging baskets.

The beautiful Christmas rose, also known as the Snow Rose or Winter Rose is a true seasonal flower. Its white flowers with pink-tipped petals bloom during the winter in the mountains of Central Europe, even when covered by snow. They can be found in abundance at American florists during this time of the year.

Whether you are a traditionalist who prefers red, white and green to go with your holiday décor, or a more unconventional type who wouldn’t mind a bright pink Christmas cactus, a bountiful selection of Christmas flowers allows you to deck your halls however you like.