Holidays

Before taking your Christmas tree to the recycling center this year, consider using it to create backyard habitat for birds. To attract birds, you must provide their three basic needs - food, water, and cover or shelter. Your old Christmas tree will provide excellent shelter for birds, providing protection from wind and predators. It can also serve as a feeding station, where you provide a buffet of food that our native birds love. 

Gardening, like any hobby, has its share of useful tools. One of these tools would be a great gift for the gardener in your life. Visit Gardeners Supply Company for even more ideas. 

As we celebrate Thanksgiving this week, take note of the foods on your table. Many of our classic Thanksgiving dishes rely heavily on New World crops native to central, south and north America. Read on for a little Thanksgiving culinary history.

Earlier this year, we discussed two 2023 National Garden Bureau’s (NGB) Plants of the Year - this year's shrub (Spirea) and vegetable (broccoli). Orchids are the NGB houseplant of the year and the holidays are a great time to discuss this large group of flowering plants, which includes more than 28,000 species! Orchids are commonly available through garden catalogs and flower shops during the holiday season and make a great gift plant for the green thumb on your gift list.

It's officially the holiday shopping season! If you have a gardener on your gift list this year, consider one of these tools to make their happiness grow. Good tools make work easier ;and any hobbyist, including gardeners, just plain have fun experimenting with a new toy – I mean tool!

A wreath is an attractive, easy-to-make decoration for the upcoming holiday season. Materials needed to construct a wreath include pruning shears, scissors, wreath frame, No. 22 or 24-gauge florist wire, wire cutter, and evergreen branches. Decorative materials, such as ribbon, bows, pine cones, holly, various fruits, and ornaments, may be used to finish the wreath.

During the holidays, poinsettias become the decorative plant of choice for many. And many green thumbs who enjoy working with plants are eventually tempted to save a poinsettia after the holidays with the intention of getting it to re-bloom the following year. Christmas cactus and Amaryllis plants also make great houseplants - easy to grow and rebloom.

Growing and reblooming poinsettia, Christmas cactus or Amaryllis is really not as difficult as many people think. Follow these tips for success with your plants.

One plant irrevocably tied to the holiday season is mistletoe, bringing to mind the image of greenery hung over a doorway in anticipation of a kiss. The white-berried plant we decorate with during the holidays, commonly known as American mistletoe, is one of approximately 1,300 mistletoe species worldwide. All have a very interesting life history, including some good and some bad, so read on for a little background information about the plant behind our Christmas traditions.

A holiday plant can be the perfect gift for many occasions, but to ensure a beautiful, healthy plant use care when selecting and transporting your gift.

Selection
When choosing a poinsettia, look for a full, well-branched plant with good color development in the showy bracts and dark green leaves. A fresh poinsettia will have little or no yellow pollen showing on the true flowers, but instead a small cluster of round yellowish buds in the center of the colorful bracts.​

Need an idea for a gardener on your Christmas list? Consider native lily or bush lily, Clivia miniata; an unusual plant popular as a holiday gift plant. It can be grown year-round as a houseplant or kept indoors during winter and placed outside in summer.