In its native Mexico, the poinsettia (Euphorbia pulcherrima) goes by the name of Noche Buena, which literally means, “the good night.” Noche Buena is actually how Spanish speakers refer to Christmas Eve. This is an appropriate name for this plant as it alludes to the time when it puts on its greatest show of color, and to the fact that it is often used as a decoration in Christmas celebrations. In Mexico, the poinsettia can grow to be a small tree, and is a perennial.

Here in the States, the plant owes its name to Joel R. Poinsett, who was a botanist and U.S. Ambassador to Mexico. He is responsible for introducing the plant to the U.S. around 1825. You more often than not see an abundance of poinsettias only during the Christmas season. However, if cared for correctly they can last well beyond spring.

Poinsettias put on a spectacular show of color through their bracts, or modified leaves. The flowers themselves are inconspicuous tiny yellow flowers found in the middle of the bracts. Poinsettias will typically maintain their colorful bracts until early spring. In my experience, the Poinsettia can be a challenge to care for after March or so. However, I’ve learned a few basic techniques to keep them healthy and strong long all year long.

One of the most important factors is your selection at the nursery. Regardless of what type of poinsettia you’re buying, yellowing or pale leaves are a sign that the plant has not been grown under the right conditions. If the leaves or bracts are brittle or falling off, don’t buy the plant.

In selecting the common red poinsettia from your local nursery, the plants with the darkest leaves are generally the healthiest plants. If you’re buying one of the other colors of poinsettia such as pink, the leaves are usually a little lighter. Also, make sure you pick plants with flowers that haven’t opened up yet. If you spot pollen on the small flowers, don’t buy these plants. Plants that have the flowers still closed up will last the longest.

The next thing to remember when you take you plant home from the nursery is that it is cold outside in December! Well, in most parts of the country. Regardless, you should protect you plant from the cold during transportation. Gently wrap the plant in a blanket between the nursery and the car.

Additionally, keep your poinsettia away from the cold once you get it home. Avoid cold drafts and don’t get your poinsettia too close to the window. Keep temperatures in your house around 70 degrees in the day and no lower than 60 at night. Place your plant in a spot where it gets plenty of sunlight, but not intense, direct sun. About six to seven hours a day will do. Filtered light is the best.

Next, inspect the container for proper drainage. Poinsettias need plenty of water, but if kept too wet, they can suffer from rot or fungus that attack the roots, so punch additional holes in the container or decorative wrapping if necessary. Water frequently, when the soil begins to feel dry to the touch. Make sure the plant does not sit in standing water. If you have a tray at the bottom of the plant, remove the water frequently.

During the time you have your poinsettia, you should be on the lookout for common pests that attack this plant. Whiteflies are a frequent problem. Simply dilute a little Castille soap with water and spray off the flies. Mealy bugs may also cause trouble and can be treated with rubbing alcohol applied with a Q-tip.

After Christmas has past, you can start preparing your poinsettia for the spring and summer months. Although there is no need to fertilize your plant during Christmas, you can begin to fertilize in the early spring with a fertilizer that has a good balance of nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium. Once to twice a month is recommended. Also, consider using a high quality organic fertilizer or a compost tea.

Around March, pick off the bracts and any dead leaves. It is also a good idea to transplant your poinsettia into a larger container around this time. Next, prune back your plant around June through August. Look for any particularly long branches to prune back. You can consider training your plant into various shapes as well.

As you approach the cooler fall months, you’ll need to begin to isolate you plant in total darkness to encourage reflowering. The last week of September, move your plants to a part of your house that can remain dark for 14 hours a day. Be very careful not to let any natural or artificial light enter the room. Keep the temperature around 65 degrees and no lower than 60 degrees. Water infrequently when the soil begins to feel dry. By early November, you should start to see new bracts appearing, just in time for Christmas.

For more information on the poinsettia, see this great site from The University of Minnesota Extension Service.

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Once of the best red-berried plants for the winter months is the Ardisia crenulata, also known as the coral berry or spice berry.  It is easy to grown from seed, but the seedlings develop slowly.  Seeds sown in March or April will bloom the following spring and produce berries the next winter.  The plant grows in this time only about a foot tall.  The leaves of the coral berry are dark glossy green, and the foliage itself is worth growing the plant.

Skimmia japonica (Japanese Skimmia) is a broad-leaf evergreen which is not hardy north of Washington D.C.  Although it’s a rather slow grower, this is one of the most attractive red-berried houseplants available.  Plant the seeds in the fall and store the seedlings in a cool place.  Then, plant them in the garden for transplanting into pots in October.  These potted plants should produce berries that winter.  The berries are bright scarlet or coral red, slightly angled, and about one-quarter of an inch across.  You can also buy a plant from your local nursery if you don’t want to grow the plant from seed.

With the best care and cultivation these unique red-berried plants will probably never exceed three feet when grown in pots.  One drawback is that only one kind of flower is produced so that if you want berries you’ll need to make sure that the plant has both staminate and pistillate flowers.

In addition to the winter decorative qualities of this plant, it is beautiful in the spring when the flowers appear.  It has many small, yellowish white flowers one quarter of an inch across, which are borne in the axils of the leaves in clusters two inches in diameter.

Another broad-leaf evergreen which can be successfully grown in a cool room is Aucuba Japonica, commonly called the Aucuba.  It is hardy in the Southern U.S.  It is a shrub four to fifteen feet high, with beautiful dark green leaves.  Like the skimmia, the flowers are not perfect, so if fruit is desired you must take care to grow both sexes.  When in flower shake the staminate ones over the pistillate ones so that they’ll fertilize.  To carry this plant over winter keep it in a deep cold-frame or cool room which does not freeze and keep the soil somewhat dry.

The cheapest red-berried plant for the winter months is the Jerusalem cherry (Solanum Pseudo-Capsicum), which is symmetrical, full of red berries, and may easily be grown up to a foot in diameter.  The berries last for three months but soon drop off as the temperatures increase.

Plant the seeds in February, and as the plants fill their pots with roots, shift to a larger pot.  During the summer, place them in a partially shady place outdoors, and give them plenty of water.  Pinch the plant back and turn frequently to keep the plant symmetrical.

When you take the plant indoors in the fall, see that it gets plenty of water.  Be careful about watering while the fruit is setting.  To carry the plant over from one year to the next, cut back the old plants in the spring, and give the same treatment as they had the previous summer.

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The Jade plant (crassula argentea) is a very popular houseplant that is a native of South Africa. They are easy to plant from cuttings and are relatively maintenance free. Jades have a long life span and can be grown as shrubs or small trees. Jades usually bloom in December when left in a room with natural light that remains dark most of the night.

If you live in zones 10 and 11, you can actually plant your Jade outdoors. This PDF file from Florida State University will give you more details on keeping your Jade outdoors and some additional horticultural information.

Here are some basic tips to maintain your Jade as a healthy and happy houseplant:

Soil: A good, basic potting soil should work fine for your jade plant. You may want to add a little sand to help with drainage and a scoop of bone meal. A recommended pH is around 6.5. Soil that has around 50% organic material is suggested.

Watering: Jades like the soil to be moist, but not soaked. Watering about once a week, depending on the time of year, should be sufficient. Let the soil dry out a bit to allow the roots to descend deep into your pot and help your plant stay sturdy. Keeping your soil too wet may result in root rot. As your plant grows, you’ll probably want to move it to a larger pot. A sign that your plant is ready for a larger container is that you may have to water it more than once a day to keep the soil moist.

Fertilizing: You can fertilize with a good liquid organic fertilizer about every three months. Don’t fertilize in the late fall through early spring as the plant has a short dormancy period.

Location and Temperature: Jades are succulents and like sunny and dry ambient conditions, but can sunburn if you’ve been growing them in a partially sunny area and move them to full sun. Daytime temperatures should be kept at between 60 and 75 degrees. 50 degrees is about as low as you want your nighttime temperatures to reach. During the winter, you’ll want to move your jades to a warm spot away from windows and cold drafts.

Pruning: Jades are easy to prune and the cuttings can be used to start new plants. You can shape your plant how you wish. Place your cuttings in potting soil and water them infrequently. The root system should develop shortly after you plant the cuttings.

Diseases and Pests: Jades are robust plants that suffer from very few pests and diseases. You’ll want to watch out for scale, mealy bugs, and spider mites. Using a fine mist sprayer with a mix of water and castile soap can help keep pests from becoming a problem.

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Looking for a carefree houseplant that grows tall and occupies a decent amount of space? The rubber plant (Ficus elastica) may be just what you’re looking for! This plant does well in just about any home or office and will provide years of indoor greenery if cared for properly. Rubber plants have unique deep green and glossy foliage that will remain nice and shiny when occasionally cleansed with a soapy sponge and then plain water.

While rubber plants do best in warm temperatures, they will tolerate a fairly wide range and can handle an air-conditioned space. The ideal temperatures for your rubber plant are around 80 degrees Fahrenheit or more during the day, and around 65 degrees at night.

While you may visualize your rubber plant as coming from a tropical jungle and constantly being soaked in rain, over-watering the soil will cause your tree to be weaker and susceptible to pests, disease, and rot. To avoid this problem, use a well-draining container and good soil. If you place the pot in a saucer you can easily get rid of the excess water each time you water your plant.

Rubber plants grow dense roots rather quickly, so if you notice that your plant requires water almost on a daily basis, you can repot it into a larger container. You plant may also grow too tall and unwieldy for its original container, so consider transplanting even if it isn’t root-bound. It your plant gets really tall and top-heavy, you can give it a little extra support with a stake or prune them in the spring.

You can consider applying a natural organic fertilizer about once every two months if your plant gets lots of sunlight. About once every four months works for less sunny spots. We don’t recommend any chemically-based fertilizers or pesticides for houseplants, or for your garden for that matter! Remember that your home or office is typically an enclosed area with limited ventilation. Do you want to go around spraying chemicals that may later affect your health or of your family? Use organic products only to protect your health and the environment!

You will rarely have problems with pests or diseases, so rest easy. If you leaves start to look a little yellow, consider giving the plant a little less water. If you plant starts to loose leaves, try moving it to a sunnier spot and away from drafts. Mealy bugs may show up, but only in rare cases. Try washing them off with a mixture of Castile soap and water.

If you go to your local nursery, you may be confronted with a large variety of rubber trees. Here is a list of our favorites: Decora is a nice pick with dark leaves. Foliis Aureo-marginata is a cultivar with golden-edged leaves. Robusta has larger leaves than most rubber trees. Tricolor has leaves with different colored splotches. Rubra has reddish tinted leaves that will eventually turn dark green with red accents.

Here’s a great site on the rubber plant and other houseplants from the University of Missouri Extension website .

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Even if you’ve never grown an aloe plant, at least once you’ve probably slathered its rather slimy gel over a nasty sunburn during the summertime to ease the itch and pain. And I bet it worked, too! That’s because aloe is a tried and true medicinal plant that has been used all over the world for centuries. These days aloe can be found as a main ingredient in anything from shaving cream to wart remover. In addition to treating skin problems, it has been known to boast your immune system if taken it orally. TheInternational Aloe Science Council http://www.iasc.org/articles.html has some great articles devoted to scientific research about the aloe plant and its medicinal uses.

If you’ve purchased an aloe-based product from a store but you aren’t growing one, having one or two aloe plants at home means you won’t have to buy any of those expensive products ever again. With your aloe plant you can make your own soothing medicinal ointments! Even if you never use aloe for medicinal purposes, you can just grow it as an attractive indoor potted plant. They’re very easy to grow and maintain, so what are you waiting for?

Scientifically speaking, aloe is a monocot from the Lily family (Liliaceae) and is considered a forb or an herb. There are actually about 250 species of Aloes. It’s scientific name is indeed Aloe vera, but you may also find it under Aloe barbadensis. Aloes are related to a lot of plants you’d never think of. For example, Easter lilies, tulips, and asparagus. Find out everything you ever wanted to know about the lily family here: Lily Family Info. http://www.answers.com/topic/liliaceae

Aloes are very easy to grow, and you should more or less treat it as a cactus or a succulent, with well-draining soil, minimal water, and plenty of sun. Temperature is also important as your aloe will start to croak if you keep it outdoors during cold nights when temperatures drop below 40 degrees F. If you live in the tropics or a Mediterranean-type climate, you can keep your aloe outdoors year-round, but if not, your best bet is to grow your aloe in a container and move it indoors when the weather turns cold.

Aloe plants are readily available from your local family-owned nursery, (remember: never buy your plants from the “___marts!”) but if you’ve got a neighbor with an aloe, you can ask to steal a bit of their plant and grow a whole new one! The best way to do this is to take the entire plant out of the container, remove a bit of it with the roots (it should pop off fairly easily, don’t force it and damage your neighbor’s plant! You want to stay friends, right?) and then repot the original plant and give it back to your neighbor. Pot up the cutting with the roots and give it a little water to get it started. As it grows, you’ll want to let the soil get fairly dry but not completely before watering it again. If you’re starting off your plant in the winter, you’ll want to wait until the soil is completely dry as the temperatures are a little lower and you don’t want to over water your plant.

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