6 Popular Holiday Plants To Give This Season

Christmas trees and holly make everything so jolly, and so do orchids, cyclamen, petite pine trees, Christmas cactus, poinsettias, and more! Although not all of them are named in the traditional Christmas songs, these holiday plants are in almost every grocery store this time of year. Plants make a great grab-n-go gift, suitable for everyone.

Popular Holiday Plants

If you’re planning on giving plants as gifts this holiday season, or will be displaying them in your home, you’ll love these simple and festive ideas!

1. Potted Poinsettias

Choose colorful and festive pots. Line them up along the mantle. Arrange around a hearth or create a centerpiece for the table. 

2. Orchids

Line 3 of them in a white tray and tie with green felt bow, or fill with small single-color ornaments.

3. Small Pine Trees

These gems look so festive —decorate each in Santa hats and place together in a row. Or simply decorate each one up as a mini Christmas tree with assorted themes. These can be planted by the recipient when the holidays are over to enjoy for many Christmases to come!

4. Cyclamen

Place in a silver mirrored bowl topped with small silver bells and shiny ornaments.

5. Christmas Cactus or Thanksgiving Cactus

Place one of these beauties in a large red wooden bowl set atop a pedestal, or simply wrap the pot with a bow or other holiday decorations for a truly standout gift!

6. Christmas Peppers

Once more popular than poinsettias, the Christmas pepper plant is a chili pepper that can be grown as an indoor annual. With the colorful peppers against green leaves and the fact that the peppers are shaped a bit like Christmas lights, these plants make for quite the Christmassy display. Tie with a bow and watch their faces light up!

Plant Care Tips

If you’re lucky enough to receive a holiday plant as a gift, follow these plant care tips and keep them healthy all year long. Or consider printing out these helpful plant care tips on festive card stock for family and friends.

• Christmas plants are delivered to the stores straight from the greenhouse without much transition time. The pretty foil and bows that decorate most gift plants help to make the unit watertight and ensures that the plant’s root ball stays intact during shipment; but that can also set the stage for rot, due to lack of air movement. For appearance, consider removing the foil and placing them in a nice decorative container.
• If you want to keep them alive through the holidays and beyond, they need to live in a draft-free zone. Arrange them decoratively, yet as close to light as possible with warm natural or the brightest artificial light.
• Allow the plant to dry back, but not so much that the soil shrinks from the side of the pot.
• These are tropical plants that will start shutting down for the winter when removed from their ideal greenhouse conditions.
• As a general rule, their potting soil contains slow-release fertilizer. If you fertilize them while they’re acclimating to their new holiday home, it will overwhelm their need to shut down, causing fertilizer spots and other unsightly conditions. Fertilize in the spring and summer only, unless you have a tropical condition, like a terrarium.
• Orchids need less water than other tropical plants since they do not have a true root system. Water them only a few tablespoons per week. If the leaves start to look shrunken, increase water one tablespoon at a time.

See which holiday plants are toxic!