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Each year at this time of year we use plants and flowers to decorate our homes and declare the season. Ever wonder about the plants and flower we use? Ever wonder where they came from and just a hint at their meaning?
Parrot flower -Alstroemeria psittacina – This stunning little flower is invasive in the areas where it will grow but what a stunning plant it is. Known in many areas as the New Zealand Christmas Bell, it loves to bloom during the Christmas season. It is not well known in many northern areas, but in many tropical and sub-tropical areas this is a loved Christmas plant. Image thanks to busybee.
Amaryllis - Hippeastrum- This is a much loved plant to brighten up windows during the holiday season. The attraction is that these plants bloom in the dead of winter with minimal care. They come in the holiday colors of red, green, and white. Amaryllis can be grown in the ground up to zone 8 year round without difficulty. Image thanks to redzone911.
Christmas Rose -Helleborus niger – This flower is said to have sprouted from the tears of a little child at the Nativity who did not have a gift to give the Christ child. It was also used by many, including the druids, to ward off evil spirits which were believed to thrive in the dead cold months of winter. The snow white flowers are stunning and a welcome surprise in any garden at any time of year. Image thanks to John_Benoot.
Holiday Cactus - Schlumbergera x buckleyi - A wonderful flower on a very hardy plant that will stand the test of time. I have seen stunning specimens blooming in the same dirty pots for 20 years and more. If the temperature is lower than 55- 60 F, plants set flower buds regardless of the length of the day or night. The story goes that a young Mayan convert was the first to bring these into the altar of the church and many churches in Latin America would not be without them on such a wonderful day, even though their popularity is waning with the rise of the ever popular Noche Buena – Poinsettia. Image thanks to htop.
Holly - Ilex opaca - The single most important plant as a Christian symbol of Christmas. Christians have found meaning in the colors of the plant and in the leaves pointing to the crown of thorns. Scandinavians gave branches of holly and other green plants in winter to bring good luck. A simple plant to grow and branches can be cut and will keep for a rather long time. The fruits are very helpful to local wildlife in the cold harsh times of winter. Image thanks the zsnp.
Mistletoe - In the dead time of winter many a traveler has seen the mistletoe in the tops of the trees. Green, despite all the elements around it, it became a symbol of hope and new life. The story was told to me as a boy growing up in Oklahoma that at Native American funeral mistletoe was often placed with the body in the ground to ward off evil spirits and as a symbol of life starting again. Image thanks to kennedyh.
Poinsettia - Euphorbia pulcherrima – This flower was the Aztec symbol of love and purity and it can be seen in the wild in many of the mountainous areas around Mexico City. The Christmas connection came with a poor child bringing green flowers to Mass for the Christ Child and they turned the red color at the church. They are the favored flower and plant for all Christmas celebrations everywhere. Image thanks to Floridian.
Ivy - Hedera helix – It is ivy and not evergreen that used to deck the halls and walls during Christmas time. The ivy is a long standing symbol of the holiday season for many European cultures. It is the symbol of everlasting life and was used by most cultures in Europe during nearly every time period. Image thanks to smiln32.
Christmas Tree and branches – Many –Germanic tribes are the first to have used trees in winter with decorations on them to give a hope for the spring ahead. Some scholars tend to believe it was not until the eighth century that the tree was used with Christmas celebrations. Can you guess what the most common decorations during the early years were? They were bread and apples to represent the tree of life and the tree of good and evil. Image thanks to hczone6.
Oranges - Citrus sinensis – These wonderful fruits were the center piece on many a Christmas table for years. From before the colonial era to the Victorian times, the Christmas table would have a bowl of oranges built up like a pyramid. The meaning was a clear one to the guests at the table. Oranges were rare and valuable fruit so only the wealthy could use them in this manor. Thus, the taller the pile, the more wealthy thepatron of the table. Image thanks to Bug_Girl.
I want to add a special thankyou to my good freind Jon Richard who let me ask him questions for the article and gave me a lot of wonderful information only a history buff would know off the top of their head.
About M Fitzgerald
I am a pentecostal preacher, gardener,husband, and a father. I love natives, daylilies, iris, and roses. I love teaching others, be they children or adults, about the garden and plants.
Posted by JaxFlaGardener (from Jacksonville, FL) on December 17, 2007 at 11:39 PM:
Hi, Mitch. Enjoyed reading the myths associated with the seasonal plants!
Parrot Flower - Alstroemeria psittacina - grows and blooms well in my Zone 8b/9a garden, but in my climate, it blooms in June. A friend of mine always has a party on the weekend of Armed Forces Day. He has this plant as do I. I was out watering my plants one summer approaching dusk when I thought about the connection and suddenly realized I had a party to attend that night! I appreciate the little parrot flower every year for that reminder.
The myth about the poinsettia is interesting, but the "facts" (according to the professors in botany/horticulture at the University of Florida, a major poinsettia research school where newly introduced cultivars of poinsettia are tested and put up for sale), relating to how the poinsettia became associated with Christmas (at least in the U.S.) are that the principle grower of poinsettias in the early 1950's took advantage of the new fangled invention of television to make the public associate poinsettias with the holidays. The poinsettia growers supplied tons of poinsettias in flower as background scenery for such T.V. Christmas specials as Pat Boone's and Perry Como's holiday shows. The trick worked. The poinsettias became a fad that lasts until today. Less romantic than the tale you provided, but reality, unfortunately, is often crass.
Thanks again for the good read!
Jeremy
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Posted by MitchF (from Oklahoma City, OK) on December 18, 2007 at 9:14 AM:
Jeremy -
The poinsettia having it roots in Mexico was part of Christmas long before TV, I am guessing that the growers saw this and brought it up here maybe? The plant was used - or so says the Mexican Gov. Official guides - by the Aztecs for winter holidays and was just carried over. Interesting stuff all the way around - love to find the roots of the plants I - sometimes fail but still try - to grow.
Mitch
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Subject: Christmas Catcus
Posted by soapwort243 (from South Milwaukee, WI) on December 7, 2007 at 8:08 PM:
Mitch, Thank you for your great article and lovely pictures !!! I was given a Christmas catcus this spring. It was a clipping which rooted in water -(2 or 3 sections) and planted in cactus soil. It has grown and split and the longest branch has about 7 sections. I was hoping it would bloom soon. It is very healthy looking. Your article said it is by temperature, not length of daylight that it blooms. Does it only bloom once a year? Could mine bloom soon? Any idea? Well, thanks again
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Posted by MitchF (from Oklahoma City, OK) on December 7, 2007 at 10:35 PM:
It needs to get a little cool to bloom - let it get in the 40s by a cold window and it will bloom.
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Subject: Flower identification
Posted by wildwolf (from Gainesville, GA) on December 6, 2007 at 1:54 PM:
I have just noticed flowers blooming on my bank in Dec? I planted the grass like plant last yr along with another plant that was given to me, I thought it was some kind of ornamental grass and just left it alone, It now has rewarded me with this pretty flower... Could you possibly tell me what it is?
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Posted by MitchF (from Oklahoma City, OK) on December 6, 2007 at 3:17 PM:
I have no idea but it is stunning
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Posted by rcn48 (from Lexington, VA) on December 6, 2007 at 4:46 PM:
wildwolf, what you have is Acidenthera bicolor, aka Gladiolus callianthus [HYPERLINK@davesgarden.com] There are numerous common names, I've always known it as African Gladiolus. For us in Zone 6, we have to treat it as an annual. However, in your area it just might come back every year. Beautiful flower to see this time of the year!
Debbie
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Posted by MitchF (from Oklahoma City, OK) on December 6, 2007 at 5:46 PM:
That is what I love about Daves - so many people here know so much!
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Posted by wildwolf (from Gainesville, GA) on December 10, 2007 at 12:45 PM:
rcn48 & MitchF,
Thanks sooo much for the replies & info, I hope it comes back, it is a very pretty plant. I am originally from upstate NY and have always had very good luck (green thumb) with growing healthy plants inside and out, but I must say I have been challenged down here in the south. What grows up north doesn't always do well down south. Thanks again.
Camo
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Posted by rcn48 (from Lexington, VA) on December 10, 2007 at 4:18 PM:
Quoted:
What grows up north doesn't always do well down south
Camo, how well I know! Moved from Maine to Virginia in 1999, lots of things I grew in Maine just don't do well with our heat and humidity. But then again, moving from Zone 4 to Zone 6, there's so much MORE I can grow! Welcome to the south :)
Debbie
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Posted by Aunt_A (from Tulsa, OK) on January 8, 2008 at 11:44 PM:
wildwolf;
I too am a transplanted Upstate New Yorker. We grew blueberries, HUGE NY/Canadian Lilacs, all kinds of bulb flowers, veggies, black and red raspberries, grapes, Red Currants and of course, Apple Trees. We must have had 10 or more apple trees that were over 30 feet tall; we ate apples and drank apple cider like some people eat candy bars and soda pop.
I still expect to pop things in the ground and watch them grow. However, most everything here in the South has to be diapered and bottle fed. We have crazy drowning rain followed by hot, dry summers, then up and down cold weather for the winter.
Back to Upstate NY: Wow...those Red Sugar Maple trees! We collected the syrup in buckets and boiled it down into the best Maple Sugar Syrup you've ever tasted. The Maple trees were the most astoundingly beautiful things in the fall. You've gotta love that fall...but the winter; lake effect snow was no fun!
Anyway, hope you enjoy the South; there are a lot of great things about the South to love, also. Things like Yucca plants, Crepe Myrtle bushes and winters that don't last as long.
:-)
MitchF's Aunt_A
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Posted by MitchF (from Oklahoma City, OK) on January 9, 2008 at 9:16 AM:
:-)
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Subject: So interesting and loved the photos
Posted by CapeCodGardener (from Mid-Cape, MA) on December 6, 2007 at 1:18 PM:
Thank you, Mitch, for all the great information and photos of holiday plants and flowers. I hadn't ever seen them all listed together in one place. Now I can spout off in an informed fashion when someone mentions holiday decorations. . . making sure to refer back to your article to get my facts right!
Makes me want to set up a special shelf with an example of each!
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Posted by MitchF (from Oklahoma City, OK) on December 6, 2007 at 3:18 PM:
Glad to help
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Posted by Dea (from Frederick, MD) on December 6, 2007 at 3:20 PM:
What an enjoyable article Mitch - as always I learned more today :)
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Posted by Islandshari (from Kwajalein
(Marshall Islands)) on December 17, 2007 at 1:04 AM:
Mitch, just now got a chance to read this lovely article...what great plants and fantastic history. It's the history and myth that make it all the more interesting, don't you think? Thanks for bringing this all to the attention it deserves.
