WHEN I asked at a Larnaca Garden Centre what alternatives they had to the ubiquitous Christmas Poinsettia, the owner asked ‘Why would anyone want anything else?’ and of course they have come to be recognised as the plant most associated with Christmas.
In Cyprus, thousands of poinsettias are raised every year for the Christmas market. Cuttings are started off in the early summer and by November they are blooming beautifully and ready for sale. They bring Christmas cheer to many households not only here, but also around the world, where they are variously called Christmas Stars, Flower of the Holy Night, Short Day Plants and Flame Leaf.
And what if red is not your favourite colour? Then they come in creams and pinks, as a result of breeding programmes over the years. Prices vary from a couple of pounds for a small one to between £5 and £10 for a really large one, which will probably consist of two or three plants, neatly potted up in a basket or nice pot.
What should you look for when you buy a poinsettia? These plants have their origins in Mexico so don’t buy one from an outside display on a chilly December day. They don’t like variations in temperatures and droop at the drop of a hat. Most plants come cosseted in cellophane making it difficult to see if all the stems are upright; that there is no leaf wilt and that the soil is not too dry. When you get them home the first thing you should do is to remove the cellophane and let the plant regain its natural shape. Test the soil with your fingertips to see how dry or wet it is and if necessary give a little water, letting it run through the plant and throwing away any excess as they don’t like to stand with their feet in water. Find a bright place for it in your home but not on a windowsill, (luckily there are not many windowsills in Cypriot houses). When the curtains are drawn in the evenings, the plant is sandwiched between the glass and the curtains and subject to the cold air trapped between the two. The result will be twisted, dying leaves and eventually a denuded plant. Stand it somewhere out of draughts where it can be admired by passers-by. It’s National Poinsettia Day on December 12 so make sure that you have yours by then.
So what alternatives are there for people who really don’t like poinsettias? Look at the potted orchids available now. Cymbidiums, Phalaenopsis and Dendrobiums make wonderful gifts and although they look very exotic, they are relatively easy to look after. Most orchids in the world like humid conditions so ‘mist’ them occasionally to simulate their natural growing conditions and again don’t let them stand in water. They are wonderful value for money, lasting many weeks and months and given care will flower again the following year.
Baskets or pots of foliage plants are very acceptable too and the choice is limitless these days. The unusual flowers of spathiphyllums and anthuriums make bold splashes of colour and look stunning in minimalist surroundings, while pots of hyacinths or paper whites bring heady perfumes to living rooms. There is surely something to please everyone these days.
Reflecting on the past gardening year
The long evenings in December, curled up in front of a log fire, are a wonderful time to reflect on how well your garden has performed this year.
When you have a spare moment, leave the hustle of Christmas behind and take a walk round your ‘patch’. What are you drawn to? Perhaps the heady ‘baby talcum’ smell of Mespila or the stunning flowers of Strelitza reginae. Move on and check out your other plants. Are they growing well? Will they need a radical prune later on? Did enough water get to the plants this year? Are the watering outlets clogged? Should tall plants be moved to the back of borders and smaller ones brought forward? Should you introduce more leaf shapes into your beds? Can you fit in a gazebo or a water feature? Are the paths safe? There are so many things that can improve your garden and this really is a good time to think ahead and plan for when the weather is better and you feel full of energy again. A garden is a wonderful restorative place.
I wonder if you keep a gardening notebook to note every plant you buy and where it is growing in the garden? It is quite a good idea and helpful if you lose the plant label and can’t remember the plant name. It is not too late to start one right now.
It was a regular thing among my gardening friends in Scotland to note what was in bloom on Christmas or New Year’s Day and there was always a sort of friendly rivalry between us to see who could boast the most. The larger the garden, of course, the more blooms you were likely to have. Why don’t you try it this year? I think you will be very surprised.
This year a dry spring followed a very wet winter, one of the wettest on record but very little rain fell after that. It could be that the citrus fruit will be smaller as a result. Dry springs mean good fruit harvests because the flowers are easily fertilised and ‘set’. Wet springs mean poor apricot, cherry and almond crops and wet autumns, less mespila/loquats. Our long dry summers mean that we can enjoy flowering plants for so much longer. If you have gardened in northern Europe you will know what a sad sight a balled up rose looks like after it has been subjected to incessant rainfall. Here they seem to flower all year round. The winner at the International Rose Trials at the end of August this year was ‘Clair’, a highly perfumed rose raised by Poulsen Roses of Denmark. Roses are always tops when it comes to choosing favourite flowers in gardening polls.
Gardener’s Christmas Stocking Fillers
GOOD quality gardening gloves never go amiss and they are available from 50 cents upwards. It’s sometimes cheaper to buy new secateurs or rose cutters rather than try to get them sharpened and they are available in garden centres and DIY stores from £5 or £6 upwards, depending on the quality. Perfumed hand creams are a must for the lady gardener and trendy garden boots can be ordered from some websites including www.giving-welly.com. For gardeners who have arthritic hands, go to www.peta-uk.com for specially adapted gardening tools. For those who like to have the ‘in’ thing for their gardens, topiary trees and bushes are available in all shapes and sizes and
wonderful pots, both glazed and terracotta, are available complement them.
Books never fail to please. Trees and Shrubs in Cyprus by published by The A G Leventis Foundation is a wonderful reference book for the enthusiast. The Rose Expert by Dr D G Hessayon gives advice and information about roses wherever they are grown, whilst Hugo Latymer’s book The Mediterranean Gardener contains helpful advice on gardening in the Mediterranean area even though he was based in Majorca, at the other end!
And lastly, for that well-earned cuppa after a hard morning’s graft in the garden, the gardeners ‘Dunk Mug’ with its special slot for your biscuits, go to www.mochahome.com/catalog
Things to do this month
I AM often asked about grass and what to do with it at this time of year. The general rule is mow it short, then scarify it (I haven’t seen any lawn scarifiers here, but I haven’t been looking for them as I don’t have grass). The alternative is to rake the grass with a wire tined rake. This is time consuming but you need to lift out all the dead grass and bits of moss and leaves that have accumulated at root level. Give some autumn lawn feed but be careful not to burn the lawn so make sure that it is watered in well. If you spike the area with a garden fork to aerate it as well, then that really would be good. It can be a tedious job but well worth it in the long run.
Bare root roses are available now in garden centres and DIY stores and this is a good time to plant them as the soil is loosening up with all the rain. When you get the rose home, stand it in a bucket of water for several hours to recover. Trim the roots to about 30 cms. Having dug a hole about 25cms deep, which should be bigger than the rose with its roots spread out, water the hole and add in some slow release fertiliser. Hold the rose upright in the hole, spread out the roots and fill in with a mixture of peat and garden soil to just about the graft point. Firm in and water well. Trim the stems to halfway to avoid wind rock and then in the early spring to two or three outward facing buds.
Watch out for snails everywhere. With the advent of the rainy season, they are starting to emerge and will eat anything succulent in sight. Lily Beetles are appearing too. If left they will devastate narcissus flower heads as well as lilies, so catch them and squash them in your fingers. I know – wear latex gloves for that job!
Keep spraying your citrus and prunus trees for Med fly every 10 to 12 days. I know it is tedious but the alternative is to have tiny white maggots in your breakfast grapefruit if you don’t. If the leaves of your citrus start to look mottled then it could be time to give them a spray of zinc chelates. Half a dessertspoon in 5 litres of water should do the trick. Spray until the water runs off the leaves.
And put your feet up during the holiday period and decide which plants you are going to grow next year. Now that Cyprus is in the EU you can order seeds from other EU countries to try out in your garden. Remember though that grey felted plants do best, as they are able to cope with our harsh summer climate. The easiest part is to get the seeds to germinate – the hardest part is to get them to survive into adulthood.
