Is your garden blanketed in snow? Are you gazing longingly at the stack of seed catalogs on your coffee table? Looking for something new in Holiday Plants?
For gardeners, spring seems a long way off during December’s busy holiday season. But don’t despair—you can put your green thumb to good use by adding gorgeous, living holiday plants to your décor!
Sure, poinsettias steal the show during Christmas, and amaryllis’ cheerful blooms entertain us during dark, dreary months. But think outside the big box store’s typical holiday displays and create interesting, unusual living arrangements with these gorgeous offerings:
Senecio Angel Wings
Like a beautiful angel Christmas tree topper, Angel Wings Senecio adds bright, cool light to your holiday displays. The silky, silvery-white foliage contrasts beautifully with red poinsettias, creating a pretty arrangement of traditional Christmas colors. Or surround blooming paperwhites with Angel Wings Senecio for an elegant, monochromatic display. Not only do the leaves add interesting texture to a paperwhites display, the foliage of Angel Wings helps mask paperwhites’ dying foliage after the blooms fade.
Perfect indoors or planted outside when the ground warms, Angel Wings grows 10-12 inches tall and 10 inches wide. It prefers a sunny location, so place it near a window or under bright lights inside.
Gaultheria procumbens Peppermint Pearls
For indoor décor that looks good enough to eat, you’ll love Peppermint Pearls. The plant’s glossy, deep green foliage accessorized with pure white berries makes a gorgeous holiday display—but not only is it beautiful, it’s edible, too! You can harvest the berries to use as ingredients in ice cream, candy, tea, jam, and even aromatic oils.
Named after Jean-Francois Gaulter, an 18th century botanist that traveled the world in search of unusual plants, the compact nature of the shrub—only 6 inches high and 12 inches wide—makes it ideal for an indoor holiday plant. Lovely as a solitary display, Peppermint Pearls also looks perfect placed among tall, white amaryllis for an elegant, festive arrangement.
Vaccinium vitis Red Candy
The epitome of holiday décor—glossy evergreen leaves sporting bright red berries—you’ll especially adore Red Candy if you enjoy making jams and pies.
Also known as lingonberry or cowberry bush, the berries taste tart eaten straight from the shrub. Combine them with sugar, however, and enjoy creating sweet treats. Lingonberry jam is quite famous in Sweden.
The compact habit of Red Candy adds a perfect burst of red/green cheer to holiday decorations, with the shrub reaching only 10 inches tall and 8 inches wide. Enjoy the pretty berries on the bush during December, and then harvest them to create scrumptious treats. The plant flowers and bears fruit early, but the berries remain intact on the plant for a long time.
If you plant Red Candy in the garden, choose a partial shade or full shade spot with humus-rich, acidic, moist but well-draining soil. Or place the container outdoors on a balcony or patio during warm weather, and then bring inside again next year to enjoy during the holidays.
Ilex aquifolium Golden DJ
Why use craft store holly leaves when you can decorate with the real thing? Ilex Golden DJ offers much more beautiful foliage than traditional green holly. With refined, dark green foliage brightened by yellow, serrated edges, this beauty adds a bright bit of holiday cheer inside or out!
At 47 inches high and 20 inches wide, Golden DJ makes a pretty addition to porches, welcoming guests on your home. But if you want to add it to indoor décor, prune Golden DJ to the size you prefer and use the branches and leaves as additions to holiday bouquets, wreathes, or swags. You’ll love how the pretty colors of Golden DJ make your decorations sparkle.
Hydrangea macrophylla Peppermint
Who doesn’t love the cheerful, bright stripes of candy canes during the holidays? Now, you can enjoy the same pretty striped pattern in a sugar-free display with Hydrangea macrophylla Peppermint! A perfectly sweet addition to indoor décor or a gorgeous hostess gift—or holiday “thank you” for a favorite teacher—Peppermint provides a beautiful burst of color. Bicolored blooms flower on both new and old wood.
Place in a bright space (but not direct sunlight) and water well. In the spring, Peppermint makes a delicious addition to balconies or patios, or plant it in the garden and lets you celebrate the Year of the Hydrangea. Remember—depending on the soil’s pH, your pink and white blooms may become blue and white!
Hydrangea macrophylla Peace
What better name for a fabulous flowering holiday plant than Peace? Celebrate the season by adding this stunning white hydrangea to your indoor décor. With delicate double flowers that start out pale green and mature to white, Peace creates a gorgeous, lush living decoration in your interior. Strong flower heads appear on both new and old wood and make beautiful additions to bouquets. Plus, kids will love that the big blooms look like living snowballs!
Give Peace as a holiday gift, sharing the beauty of living holiday décor.
Whether you prefer fabulous foliage or beautiful blooms, get your hands dirty this December and create beautiful indoor décor with perfectly festive holiday plants
“This post is provided as an educational/inspirational service of the National Garden Bureau and our members. Please credit and link to National Garden Bureau when using all or parts of this article.”
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