Bold & Beautiful Festive Bloomers: 6 Christmas Flowering Plants For A Big Holiday Buzz

During the holiday season, Christmas flowering plants bring cheer and natural color to the home. For anyone looking to cultivate natural beauty indoors, this can be a season where Christmas flowering house plants bring unique tone and sparkle to interiors. Some plants also bloom and thrive outdoors at this time of year, depending on where you live and garden. You might be looking for the perfect flowering plant for your holiday porch pot or something dynamic for a patio or balcony. Poinsettias are traditional for the holidays, but there are many other options for Christmas flowering indoor plants and outdoor plants.

Choosing the Best Christmas Flowering Plants

Add a Christmas flowering plant to your home or garden this year for a festive addition to the typical greenery of the season. Maybe you’re after some vibrant holiday houseplants that can lend color and texture, or possibly plants for holiday decorations and displays? Fortunately, several gorgeous ornamental plants flower in winter, either naturally or because they have been grown carefully to do so.

Choose the best holiday plants for your home based on whether they’ll be outside or inside, the climate, your decorating theme, and required maintenance to keep them flowering. Here are some options for both Christmas flowering outdoor plants and indoor decorative options for a cheerful season of blooms.

1. Christmas Rose (Hellebore)

Hellebores (Helleborus) are also known as Christmas or Lenten roses because they bloom in winter or early spring. The leaves are evergreen and the flowers are bell-shaped and come in a variety of colors. You can grow different hellebore varieties outside as a perennial in USDA zones 5-8 in rich soil and partial shade.

Specific varieties, such as Ivory Prince from Green Promise Farms, available from the Gardening Know How Shop, have both a compact, upright habit and a vigorous growth rate. While you can grow them indoors, hellebores do better outside.

2. Amaryllis

Amaryllis is a classic winter houseplant. It is a bulb that can easily be forced to bloom indoors during the holiday season. True amaryllis are native to South Africa. What is usually sold under the name amaryllis is actually Hippeastrum, a genus of flowers native to South America.

Amaryllis are popular for Christmas because they produce vibrant red or white flowers on top of strong stems. Varieties like Season’s Greetings Triple Mixed from Jackson & Perkins, available from the Gardening Know How Shop, are striking and easy to care for. When growing amaryllis, start a bulb six to eight weeks before you want it to bloom. Set it in a bright window and keep the soil moist. Unless you live in the tropics, this is strictly an inside plant.

3. Cyclamen

Cyclamen persicum is a popular flowering houseplant that blooms in winter. You can find it in shades of pink, red, purple, and white. This plant is hardy in USDA zones 9-11, so in most regions it’s best to grow cyclamen inside. Let your cyclamen go dormant in summer, and it will rebloom the following winter.

Provide your potted cyclamen with bright but indirect light, rich, slightly acidic soil that drains well, and humidity. If you take good care of it, cyclamen should provide festive holiday blooms for up to three months.

4. Paperwhite Narcissus

Narcissus tazetta is one of the easiest bulbs to force. It provides pretty little white flowers for your holiday décor, like festive stars. Related to daffodils, narcissus produces similar flowers but instead of just one per stem, it blooms with several flowers on each scape.

Native to the Mediterranean, they are hardy in USDA zones 8-11, so it is possible to grow paperwhites outdoors if your region allows. To force inside, prepare your bulbs four to six weeks before the holidays for timely blooms.

5. Christmas Cactus

Christmas or holiday cactus is a popular winter houseplant. It reliably blooms between late November and January, perfect for the holiday season. The fleshy leaves of the cactus spill over the edges of their container and bloom in various shades including festive red or white as well as pinks and purples.

Most people grow Christmas cactus as a holiday houseplant, but you can grow it outdoors in USDA zones 10-12. Provide your cactus with very well-drained soil, partial sun, and warm temperatures for the best results.

6. Poinsettia

No discussion of Christmas plants would be complete without talking about the festive poinsettia. Although they bloom during the holidays, it’s not the small yellow flowers of poinsettia that grab attention. The colorful bracts that surround the flowers come in festive shades, usually red. However, you can also find white pink and multi-colored poinsettia varieties to grow.

Euphorbia pulcherrima is native to Mexico and grows best as a houseplant in most of the US. Many people keep it only for the season, but with the right care, you can enjoy your poinsettia houseplant year-round and get it to bloom again next year.

Try These Other Great Garden Gifting Ideas from GKH

• Enchant flower lovers and evergreen lovers with these winter plants for seasonal interest to take you through winter and into spring.
• If you’re visiting someone else’s home for the holidays, don’t forget one of these host & hostess gift ideas to bring joy to the festive table.
• Inspire evergreen lovers to expand their growing horizons with these unique holiday evergreen ideas for years of botanical bliss.
• Grab a headstart on the new year and the coming gardening calendar with these curated seed starting gift ideas for flowers and edibles.
• Browse even more ideas in the Gardening Know How Shop's Garden Gifts section.

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