When I was growing up, poinsettias, especially red ones, reigned supreme in the holiday decorating sweepstakes. Big stores arranged hundreds of them in tiers to look like giant red Christmas trees. The crimson blooms adorned church altars and ornamented multiple rooms in large houses. People with a more modern aesthetic sometimes turned to white poinsettias … Read more
Opening up the new gardening catalogs is a form of post-holiday renewal. Despite the fact that I use lots of online vendors and do ninety-nine percent of my ordering online, I still get a thrill from the bright, splashy print catalogs. On New Year’s Day I delved into one of those catalogs. The vendor is … Read more
Chrysanthemums are not fragrant—at least not to my nose. In fact, an extract of chrysanthemum flowers, pyrethrin, is used as an insecticide, and insecticides almost never have a pleasant odor. I generally prefer sweet smelling flowers, but I love chrysanthemums—a love that comes naturally. My mother was wild about them, especially the giant “football” mums … Read more
The stores went into holiday mode right after Halloween, but I am not ready to put up the wreaths, adorn the house with poinsettias, or hang greens from the mantelpiece. I don’t like to rush the December holiday season, because if I do, it will be Valentine’s Day on January 1. I do, however, need … Read more
Nine chances out of ten, if you are reading this, you have an amaryllis in the house. Maybe it arrived ready to bloom just before the December holidays. If so, you may still be enjoying the last of the bright flowers. Or it might have come to you as a kit. If you followed the … Read more
