Even though Winter may be starting to fade, there’s still a way to keep the Christmas spirit growing all year long! Have a look at these Christmas-themed plants that you could add to your garden to bring a bit of Christmas fun to the warmer months:
Christmas Classics
No other plant has as strong of an association with Christmas like the Christmas Tree! Growing your own Christmas variety, such as a Douglas-Fir or Scotch Pine, can give you a tree to decorate every year. You can take lights and garland outside and decorate the tree each year as it grows, without ever needing to cut it down. Add some bird-friendly ornaments made of seeds and you’ll be giving gifts to wild birds visiting your yard!
Usually a temporary decoration during the holidays, poinsettia can actually be kept all year long. Well-suited to indoor temperatures, with proper care the poinsettia can become a houseplant that will bloom again next year.
Holly and Ivy have been cemented in the Christmas season due to the famous carol “The Holly & The Ivy”, which recalled the symbolic place that the two plants held in English church tradition as the only two plants that remained green throughout the Winter. To have a garden accurate to the Christmas carol, you could have European Holly and English Ivy, both of which would have been common in England.
Mistletoe
Easily the second-most recognizable plant associated with Christmas traditions, it may be best to stick with plastic, ornamental versions of Mistletoe, as it is actually a parasite of the trees it grows on and contains poisonous compounds!
Christmas-Themed Plants
This is quite an interesting plant! While Christmas Basil is similar to the herb used in Italian cooking, this variety brings the actual smell of Christmas to the Spring Garden! The plant gives off a “fruity, mulled-wine” aroma that is sure to bring back warm memories of Christmastime. It can even be grown inside as a year-long source of edible greenery and delightful aroma.
This easy-to-grow perennial will bring pleasant blooms to your garden year after year. Small, white, bell-shaped flowers bloom early in the season and will grow in a wide range of climates.
An honorable mention due to its tendency to bloom during Christmas, the Christmas Cactus makes a classic houseplant during the whole year.
This Fuchsia gets its “Santa Claus” name for its red-and-white blooms, which would be perfect match to a Santa Claus suit! Unlike Santa, this plant needs a warm climate, and thrives with constant watering.
Here’s a sweet addition to your Christmas garden: A small bell pepper that ripens to a cheery Christmas red. The color and their small size, just over one inch in diameter, gives these peppers the name “jingle bells”.
Do you grow any Christmasy plants? Leave a note in the comments, and happy gardening!
(Image via Jack Berry on Flickr)