Top 10 Holiday Gift Plants
for Seniors on Your Gift List
This is the season we celebrate life, joy, goodwill and peace. It’s most appropriate to give a living gift that can provide enjoyment, generate smiles and calm stressed nerves. For senior friends and relatives, a plant suitable for a windowsill is a wonderful gift that keeps giving joy, initiating pleasant conversation and triggering fond memories months after the Christmas decorations
are packed away.
You might want to consider for an aging friends or relatives easy plants such as African violets, begonias, peace lilies, rosemary, ferns, a windowsill herb garden, a palm or ivy. The therapeutic value of caring for a plant that literally depends on us, that will grow and bloom for us, and encourages us to look forward to tomorrow can’t be under estimated.
Don’t neglect the potential for whimsy in horticultural gift giving. There is the traditional Chia pet, a coffee plant for the Starbucks addict on your list, or catnip for the feline friendly. The tools of gardening also make great gifts, like the user friendly Fiskars pruning shears. Garden books, decorative containers, moisture meters, fertilizers, like Zoo-Doo also make great and
useful gifts. Creative readers of this blog can make a distinctive garden hat, personalized pots and unique containers, laminated seed packet markers, etc. for their gardening friends.
Important factors to remember when selecting plants for giving
include:
Match the gift plant to the person’s interests and abilities
Match the gift plant to the setting the person can provide. Indoor space,
outdoor space, sunny window, sunroom, patio, conservatory greenhouse, shade
garden, etc.
Purchase the plant as close to the time it will be given as is convenient,
but don’t wait until Christmas eve to find that perfect poinsettia.
Keeping plants viable until they are given.
Remember that all plants need light, water and air to live. Denied these
big three for even a short time can seriously affect their appearance, producing
a gift with yellow foliage, dropping leaves, moldy flowers, or gift wrapped
compost.
The cooler we can keep cyclamen, Christmas cactus, mums, mini-roses,
amaryllis and lilies the better the chances of an attractive bloom on the big
day.
Don’t keep gift plants in those plastic sleeves or decorative pot covers
while waiting for Christmas morning. Unless the gift is a water lily there
needs to be drainage provision. Keeping a plant in a plastic bag doesn’t
satisfy this need.
include:
Match the gift plant to the person’s interests and abilities
Match the gift plant to the setting the person can provide. Indoor space,
outdoor space, sunny window, sunroom, patio, conservatory greenhouse, shade
garden, etc.
Purchase the plant as close to the time it will be given as is convenient,
but don’t wait until Christmas eve to find that perfect poinsettia.
Keeping plants viable until they are given.
Remember that all plants need light, water and air to live. Denied these
big three for even a short time can seriously affect their appearance, producing
a gift with yellow foliage, dropping leaves, moldy flowers, or gift wrapped
compost.
The cooler we can keep cyclamen, Christmas cactus, mums, mini-roses,
amaryllis and lilies the better the chances of an attractive bloom on the big
day.
Don’t keep gift plants in those plastic sleeves or decorative pot covers
while waiting for Christmas morning. Unless the gift is a water lily there
needs to be drainage provision. Keeping a plant in a plastic bag doesn’t
satisfy this need.
Keeping them alive after the batteries in the toys are all dead and the ornaments are all packed away.
There are plants that are best treated as a bouquet. When they are done blooming they can become compost. Forced tulips, potted & decorated spruce trees, potted ornamental cypress, cineraria and calceolaria are examples of plants that were designed by nature for a brief but glorious moment on a sunny windowsill.
Plants that will make an effective addition to the outdoor landscape should
be moved out there as soon as possible. Hollies, junipers, cedars and most
other evergreens aren’t well adapted to life indoors. Living Christmas trees
like blue spruce, cedar, juniper and holly will tolerate a couple weeks in the
living room if they are kept watered, but they need their place in the cool
winter sun as soon as possible.
Poinsettias, mums, amaryllis, kalanchoes, begonias and cyclamen will
continue to bloom with enthusiasm on a sunny windowsill. Ivies, ferns, peace
lilies, anthuriums, ficus and many others are quite content to enjoy an extended
stay with you, as long as they get sufficient light and water.
Most plants living indoors should be kept evenly moist but not soggy. The
easiest way to do this is to place them in a saucer of water and let them soak
it up until the soil surface is moist, dump and excess water from the saucer and
let the plant drain for a while. Then don’t water again until the soil surface
is dry.
Get the gift plants out of those plastic sleeves as soon as possible. They
can hold enough waster to drown your plants.
There are plants that are best treated as a bouquet. When they are done blooming they can become compost. Forced tulips, potted & decorated spruce trees, potted ornamental cypress, cineraria and calceolaria are examples of plants that were designed by nature for a brief but glorious moment on a sunny windowsill.
Plants that will make an effective addition to the outdoor landscape should
be moved out there as soon as possible. Hollies, junipers, cedars and most
other evergreens aren’t well adapted to life indoors. Living Christmas trees
like blue spruce, cedar, juniper and holly will tolerate a couple weeks in the
living room if they are kept watered, but they need their place in the cool
winter sun as soon as possible.
Poinsettias, mums, amaryllis, kalanchoes, begonias and cyclamen will
continue to bloom with enthusiasm on a sunny windowsill. Ivies, ferns, peace
lilies, anthuriums, ficus and many others are quite content to enjoy an extended
stay with you, as long as they get sufficient light and water.
Most plants living indoors should be kept evenly moist but not soggy. The
easiest way to do this is to place them in a saucer of water and let them soak
it up until the soil surface is moist, dump and excess water from the saucer and
let the plant drain for a while. Then don’t water again until the soil surface
is dry.
Get the gift plants out of those plastic sleeves as soon as possible. They
can hold enough waster to drown your plants.
Top 10 Holiday plants for senior citizens
10. Parsley, Sage, Rosemary & Thyme windowsill herb garden is #10
on the list but is a great gift that can be useful for many seasons to come, is
safe and easy to grow.
9. Ferns, the common Boston ferns, Ruffles and others are easy to grow, are a great
reminisce plant and can be decorated for the season.
8. Ivy is rugged and eager to grow. It can be found as topiaries in Christmas tree, hoop, heart, and globe shapes. You can also find ivy hanging baskets or small decorative pots. This is an inexpensive, yet dependable, plant
7. Mint is# 7 on the list. It is rugged, easy, aromatic and can be used throughout
the winter. It can be planted outdoors in the spring.
6. African Violets are not often thought of as a traditional Christmas
plant, but they are ideal, colorful, easy to grow and propagate, few insect problems and a great reminisce plant.
5. Norfolk Pines are found in all sizes from tiny 3" pots to 6' trees. They are often available decorated with lights and ornaments, but you can theme the decorations yourself and make it a truly unique gift plant that will thrive for years with
little effort.
plant, but they are ideal, colorful, easy to grow and propagate, few insect problems and a great reminisce plant.
5. Norfolk Pines are found in all sizes from tiny 3" pots to 6' trees. They are often available decorated with lights and ornaments, but you can theme the decorations yourself and make it a truly unique gift plant that will thrive for years with
little effort.
4. Christmas cactus are great for color and ease of care. They are now available in a wide variety of colors from red to white, pink, lavender and even creamy yellow. They are also easy to start and share as a pass along plant and can live for generations.
3. Rosemary is # 3on the list because it is so aromatic, easy to grow, safe for people and pets and makes a great addition to a wide variety of meals.
3. Rosemary is # 3on the list because it is so aromatic, easy to grow, safe for people and pets and makes a great addition to a wide variety of meals.
2. Mini-Roses are #2 because they are so colorful, so easy to grow and will bloom in spite of you. They will thrive indoors and out as long as they get enough light and water.
1. Poinsettias are the #1 plant for this season. They now come in a
variety of colors and the "bloom" (really modified leaf bracts) will remain colorful for several months. They can be kept to rebloom next year, but this can be a challenge. They are best treated as a long lasting bouquet, not a perennial.
variety of colors and the "bloom" (really modified leaf bracts) will remain colorful for several months. They can be kept to rebloom next year, but this can be a challenge. They are best treated as a long lasting bouquet, not a perennial.
10 holiday plants that are dangerous when
ingested
If there is the possibility of ingesting leaves or other plant parts avoid
plants on the danger list below. The same plants can also be harmful to cats and
dogs if chewed or swallowed.
1. Mistletoe
2. Holly leaves and berries
3. Amaryllis
4. Azalea
5. Cyclamen
6. Philodendron
7. Florist primrose
8. Narcissus
9. Tulips
10. Anthurium
ingested
If there is the possibility of ingesting leaves or other plant parts avoid
plants on the danger list below. The same plants can also be harmful to cats and
dogs if chewed or swallowed.
1. Mistletoe
2. Holly leaves and berries
3. Amaryllis
4. Azalea
5. Cyclamen
6. Philodendron
7. Florist primrose
8. Narcissus
9. Tulips
10. Anthurium
Other great SAFE plants for holiday giving include
Chia pets, they make a great whimsy planter and the cats love ‘em.
Orchids are easier than you think
Kalanchoes
Dianthus
Geraniums
Begonias
Bromeliads
Palms
Mums
Lavender
Combination planters
Terrariums
Special thanks to Lowes Home Improvement Stores and Smiths Supermarkets for many of the photos used in this article. The quality and diversity of plants in these stores was exceptional.
Chia pets, they make a great whimsy planter and the cats love ‘em.
Orchids are easier than you think
Kalanchoes
Dianthus
Geraniums
Begonias
Bromeliads
Palms
Mums
Lavender
Combination planters
Terrariums
Special thanks to Lowes Home Improvement Stores and Smiths Supermarkets for many of the photos used in this article. The quality and diversity of plants in these stores was exceptional.