Happy National Poinsettia Day, everyone!  And to honor the occasion, how about some poinsettia news and tips on their care?

In news, poinsettias last longer today than ever before, thanks to the introduction of new hybrid varieties.  New varieties in white, pink and marbled colors abound.  Plus, spray-painted options come in every imaginable color.

If they’re properly cared for, the poinsettias available today will last up to 6 to 8 weeks.  These tips for accomplishing that are in line with the best practices recommended by the University of Maryland.

Poinsettias in a traditional display at Longwood gardens.

Care of Poinsettias

• Keep poinsettias someplace with temperatures between 65 and 75 degrees.
• Keep them away from drafts from heat vents, doors or windows.  Drafts will cause leaf and flower drop.
• Place the poinsettias where they receive bright natural light, but no direct sunlight.  Direct sunlight will cause leaves to yellow and flowers (actually, bracts) to drop.
• Best artificial light for poinsettias are cool white fluorescent bulbs.
• Check the soil moisture daily and water plants only when the potting medium is DRY.

For a Second Season

After the holidays are over, it IS possible to make poinsettias last for a second year, though the size and quality of the second year’s display probably won’t be as good.   Click here for instructions in what that source refers to a “fussy, exacting process.”  So, you’re warned!

Posted by Susan Harris.

In anticipation of the Behnkes Holiday Open Houses this weekend (details below), I took a stroll through the Beltsville store.

Trees, lots of them.  Love the smell, the best Christmas smell of all (and there are so many great ones!).

The cute pieces assembled above can be used in Fairy Gardens all year long.

Love these lanterns!  I’m imagining them at night, with lit candles in them.  Another charming feature for all year long.

These Ginger Cottages proudly hail from the good old U.S.A..  Thanks for creating jobs here!

I found the iron planter above on sale for 50% off and snapp it right up.   I think it’s perfect for the empty wall in my new screened-in porch (check it out).  I’m planning to fill it with all sorts of nonliving but natural-looking elements, like the berries shown here, and maybe some faux evergreen garland, too.  I’ll be trying out a variety of plants, both fake and real, in this gorgeous new container.

Below, more pretty winter elements I’ll be using to fill the planter.  They’ll last forever or close to it.

And poinsettias are soooo gorgeous in groups like this.  Even these basic colors.

Or above, on display with hanging pots of Christmas Cactus, a houseplant I’m finally trying at home.

Santa, shown here at last year’s Open House, is returning for more quality kid time and photo opportunities.

Behnkes Holiday Open Houses this Weekend

Location: BOTH Stores
Date: Saturday, December 1, and Sunday December 2
Admission: FREE

Enjoy light refreshments from 10 am to 4 pm, and Holiday Decorating Demonstrations from 11 am to 2 pm

Special at the Beltsville Store:

Saturday, December 1 — Rockville Swing Band 2:30 to 4:30 pm
Sunday, December 2 — Look for Santa 11 am to 2 pm

Special at the Potomac Store:

Saturday, December 1 — Harpist Jim Dronenburg 11 am to 2 pm

More scenes from last year’s Open House.  The Rockville Swing Band really DOES swing, and so do our customers!  Watch for them on Saturday in Beltsville.

Photos and text by Susan Harris.

You can get weeks more of enjoyment from your tree and help the birds by leaving the strings of popcorn and cranberries right where they are and moving the tree, stand and all, to your garden.  Hang slices of oranges and pieces of suet – the suet can also be smeared into the branches.  Pine cones filled with peanut butter and bird seed can also be hung from the branches.  When the birds are done with the tree, just remove all decorations, hooks and tinsel strands and mulch the tree, as described below.

Just dump the tree on its side in a protected part of the yard to provide shelter for wildlife, including rabbits.  Allowed to decompose, the tree will become home to insects, fungi and possibly even amphibians and reptiles.

Just remove the branches to turn your tree into a trellis or vegetable stake.

And get this:  some people place their used trees in their fish ponds, where they serve as refuge and feeding areas for the fish.  Some experts recommend removing all the needles first, as they’re mildly toxic to the fish.

Turn your tree into mulch that’s perfect for paths with the help of a chipper/shredder (a great tool to share with neighbors).  Even without a chipper, you can trim the branches and place them on perennial beds to reduce the heaving caused by cycles of freezing and thawing.

Chop it into firewood and kindling. A typical fir can be turned into 13+ pounds of firewood.  Dry branches make great kindling for starting fires.

And if you don’t have a spot for the tree in your garden, there are still good uses that can be made of it.   As long as it doesn’t end up in the landfill, right?

Donate it for stream protection. Christmas trees are increasingly used to shore up streamsides as erosion control, so check with the nearest water protection group to see if they can put your tree to good use.  They may even pick up the tree for you.

Here are the details from some local jurisdictions.

• Montgomery County collects Christmas trees on regular recycling day from Monday, December 26, 2011 through Friday, February 3, 2012.  They ask that you please put your Christmas tree at the curb by 7 a.m. on your collection day. After February 3, 2012, you may still recycle your tree through their curbside yard trim collection. but if you wait til then the tree must then be cut into smaller pieces. The mulch created is available to residents free of charge at these locations.

• Prince George’s County provides Christmas tree collection and drop-off services for recycling of live Christmas trees at no charge.   Every tree collected is shredded and cured into mulch for their annual spring Mulch Giveaway event.  (Last year, more than 26 tons of Christmas trees were collected.)  To participate, residents with County-provided yard waste collection service should place their undecorated Christmas trees at curbside before 6:30 a.m. on their regularly scheduled collection day.  They can also bring their undecorated trees, at no charge, to the Prince George’s County Yard Waste Composting Facility, 6601 Southeast Crain Highway in Upper Marlboro; Monday through Friday from 7:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., or to the Brown Station Road Public Convenience Center, 3501 Brown Station Road, Upper Marlboro; Monday through Saturday, 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. through January 31, 2012.  Before dropping off the trees, residents are reminded to remove all tree stands, tinsel, lights and ornaments from trees.  Only undecorated trees will be accepted.

• For Washington, D.C., its website says that “Holiday trees and wreaths will be picked up curbside from January 3 to January 14. Remove all decorations and place the greenery in the treebox space in front of your home between Monday, January 2, and Monday, January 9. Please do not put the trees in plastic or cloth bags. Trees collected between January 3 and 14 will be recycled. Any trees not collected by January 14 should be set out with your trash to be picked up as space in the trash trucks allows over the following weeks. Residents also can bring trees to the Ft. Totten Transfer Station weekdays, 1 pm-5 pm, and Saturdays, 8 am-3 pm, for free tree chipping.”

• From Arlington County, there’s this information: “Christmas Tree Collection will be from January 3-17, 2012 on your regular refuse day. Since trees will be ground into wood mulch, please remove the tree stand, lights, and decorations. Please do not place the tree in a plastic bag. During the first two full weeks in January, Christmas trees are collected curbside for residents with curbside refuse and recycling service. Residents are reminded to place the tree on the curb no later than 6 am on your regular trash collection day and to remove all decorations, nails, stands, and plastic bags. After the trees are collected, they will be ground into wood mulch for garden use. Special unbundled brush or metal pickups will be suspended during this time.

• For Fairfax County, trees less than 8 feet tall can be left out by the curb during the first two weeks of January for no additional cost. For trees larger than 8 feet, contact your trash hauler for collection details.  Mulch created by Fairfax County is available to residents free of charge at these locations.

Tree photo credit.  Sign photo credit.

If you haven’t yet visited Brookside Gardens to see this year’s stunning outdoor light display, do it soon!  Here’s what Brookside has to say about it:

Visualize close to one million twinkling colorful lights shaped in imaginative displays throughout the gardens. Enjoy the four seasons illuminated as giant summer sunflowers, autumn leaves, winter snowflakes, spring flowers, rain showers, and more. Walk along the easily accessible paths and you’ll see what sets this light show apart from others; it’s the hundreds of wrapped trees and shrubs, beautifully lighted gazebos, cascading fountains, and the individually formed displays in the shapes of blooming flowers and wild animals. Look for moving displays such as a flock of geese, or an 11 foot giraffe covered with 9,000 lights. This festive, secular light show, now in its 15th season, is a popular family tradition in the Washington, DC area drawing close to 40,000 visitors each winter. Inside of the Conservatory, a winter display of holiday poinsettias, flowering plants and evergreens are combined in bright and bold combinations, providing colorful landscape through which the garden railway trains travel.

Schedule of musical performances Listen to local musicians perform in the Visitors Center Auditorium each night of the show from 6:30pm to 8:00pm through January 8. Light refreshments may be purchased and enjoyed during the entertainment. While you’re here, do a bit of holiday shopping at our gift shop, Marylandica.

Dates and Times Here are the remaining dates available  to see all this:  12/21 (tonight), 12/22, 12/23, 12/26, 12/27, 12/28, 12/29, 12/30, 12/31 (New year’s Eve – great idea!), 1/1, 1/6, 1/7.   From 5:30 to 9:00 (last car admitted at 8:30).

More about that New Year’s Eve idea:   What better way to say goodbye to the old year and an early hello to 2011 than by bringing your family and friends to the Garden of Lights for an evening filled with lights, music, and memories.  All for the same weekend rate of $25.00 per car or van.

Admission

• Cars/Vans (Monday – Thursday): $20 (cash only)
• Car/Vans (Friday – Sunday): $25 (cash only) (1 – 14 passenger vehicles)
• Advance Sale Tickets: $20 (available starting November 1). Tickets are good for any night and may be purchased in advance at the Conservatory or Visitors Center Gift Shops during posted gift shop hours, using cash, check or credit. Advanced ticket holders must enter the gardens after 5:30 p.m. with normal flow of traffic (no early admission.)
• Buses & Limousines please register in advance at 301-962-1457. Limousines with 14 or fewer passengers will be charged regular admission.
• Bus, Van and Limo Fees:
• 15-24 passenger buses/vans/ limos: $50
• 25-35 passenger buses: $75
• 36-57 passenger buses: $120

NOTE: Pedestrians cannot be admitted due to safety regulations. Visitors must drive to the entrance gate. After paying at the gate, visitors drive into the parking lot, park their vehicle, and walk through the light show display. For more formation about the Garden of Lights, call 301-962-1453.

Nobody does Christmas like Longwood Gardens, the famous public garden near Wilmington, Delaware.   Their 4.5 acres of greenhouse are dolled-up for the holidays,  and outdoors, over a half million lights make for a grand show.  PLUS, there are performances – by ice skaters and by multi-colored “dancing” fountains (to quote their website).

Just a few days ago, the happy bunch below left from Behnkes via tour bus to spend the day visiting Longwood – thanks to Cheval’s 2nd Act (a garden tour service) and  Washington Gardener Magazine.   Feast your eyes on the sights in this small selection of photos from their visit.

Below, some very clever trees constructed entirely from succulents (left and center) and bromeliads.  Awesome!

Below, part of the permanent display of gray and silver foliage plants in the West Conservatory.

Finally, these outdoor scenes are lovely but they don’t even hint at the drama that comes after nightfall.
Photo credits: Top two courtesy Longwood Gardens; all the rest thanks to Stephanie Fleming.