Skip the cut flowers this year and bring home a potted plant
For Valentine’s Day or just to brighten your winter, look to flowering plants and skip the cut flowers. With a flower pot, the gift is just the beginning! Here are cold-loving flowering pots that last, including plants with heart-shaped flowers.
Cyclamens
The cyclamen is the perfect houseplant to brighten up February with its heart-shaped and colorful blossoms in Valentine’s colors of pink and red!
Cyclamens flower indoors for several months as long as they are kept cool. When they finish their bloom cycle, feed them with diluted water-soluble fertilizer, so they produce more leaves and increase the size of their underground tuber.
By June, plants go dormant, leaves die, and tubers should be removed from pots to dry and store. They’ll bloom again the following winter.
African Violets
Other easily found flowering plants, such as African violets, bloom year-round indoors in the right light conditions. African violets also have unique leaves that almost form a heart shape! They usually come in purple but are also available in red and other colors.
They don’t need strong, direct light, so they work well in wintertime. They also do well in an east-facing window or three or four feet away from the bright light of west and south windows.
Anthuriums
Red-flowered Anthuriums are perfect for Valentine’s Day because the “flowers” (which are actually modified leaves) are heart-shaped!
You’ll surely see many of these plants in nurseries and even at Trader Joe’s around February.
Peace Lilies
The long-lasting, pure white flowers of Peace Lilies are also subtly fragrant, and the plant bears beautiful, glossy, oval leaves that narrow to a point.
Peace lilies are similar to African violets in that they do not require intense direct light, and are happy winter plants.
Photo: Georgina198/Getty Images
Orchids
Even orchids, particularly phalaenopsis, can be grown indoors throughout the year. However, I get better flowering results if I put both outside in a sheltered northeast spot for the summer.
Hellebore
Or, consider the hellebore. This lovely plant with its pastel flowers will bloom for months. After enjoying hellebore flowers, you can plant them outside when the ground thaws enough to dig a hole. They laugh at the cold and keep on blooming. See how to care for hellebore.
Miniature Roses
Miniature roses are another good choice to give or receive as a token of love. They do need strong, direct light. Enjoy the blooms for several months. Deadhead spent flowers, fertilized, and then waited until outdoor temperatures were warm. The little flower powerhouses look terrific in containers on the patio or deck and do well in the ground in climates where temperatures don’t go below 10ºF in the winter.
All the plants I mentioned, and more can be found at local garden centers or ordered from flower delivery services.
I’m hoping for red Anthurium this year… You can print out this article and leave it in a spot where your Valentine is certain to see it.
What are you wishing for this season of love?
Aunt Weezie, I can sympathize. I have a sunroom that faces north and east! Had to add a skylight. What grows well in the dark corners of that room are hanging baskets of pothos, spilt-leaf philodendron, ferns, Peace lily (spathaphyllum), primrose (they bloom) and cyclamen. All are green, luxurious and make the house much brighter.
When my husband and I first got together, I put one rule out on the table--no cut flowers as gifts. They're always too expensive (especially around V-Day!) and I don't get the idea of giving something that will wither and die fairly quickly to express one's love.
I've gotten my fair share of potted plants over the years. I adore tulips, but I seem to be able to do better with non-flowering plants.
Great column!
I love buying and getting potted tulips this time of year. After the blooms fade I stick the pot in the basement. Come fall I plant the dried bulbs outside for spring bloom next year. Pick up some bright red tulips for your Valentine!!
Thanks, Doreen. I like the idea of a longer-lasting flower--esp the heart-shaped anthurium. And the idea of sharing this blog with my husband. :-) Happy birthday to you!
I got red anthurium today from husband and my son sent me a catci dish garden for my birthday.
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