Indoor plants for winter? Look no further. After autumn, when the leaves turned red, orange, and yellow, there isn’t much color left in nature. Most of us have to wait until spring rolls around. However, with the right indoor plants, your indoor garden can still be vibrant. These festive indoor plants for winter are the most popular sources of bright colors and living decor during the holiday season.
Quintessential Indoor Plants for Winter: Poinsettia
One of the most common plants you’ll see adorning people’s mantles, shelves, and windowsills around Christmas is the poinsettia. This festive plant features dark green leaves and large, bright-red flowers. This combination creates a perfect accent for a home already decked out in Christmas colors. Also, people say the star-shaped leaves symbolize the Star of Bethlehem.
Christmas Cactus
The Christmas cactus is another of the classic indoor plants for winter. It’s a red and green plant that can bloom throughout the holiday season. There are several cultivars of the Schlumbergera genus, but the Christmas cactus will fall into one of two groups. The Truncata cultivars feature stem segments with pointed teeth, horizontal flowers, and a bloom season sometime around fall. The Buckleyi cultivars have more rounded stem segments, flowers that hang down, and a blooming season later into winter. In short, the Buckleyi cultivars are the truer “Christmas cacti.”
Holly
Holly is a genus that contains around 480 different species of flowering plants. The varieties include trees, shrubs, and climbers. Decorating with holly for the holiday season dates back to the oldest Druid, Celtic, and Roman traditions. You’ll often see holly in wreaths and other Christmas decor, but you can also purchase holly plants.
Fun Indoor Plants for Winter: Mistletoe
Kissing under the mistletoe is one of the most favorite Christmas traditions. It stems from this plant’s ancient associations with fertility, peace, and love. During the Christmas season, mistletoe clippings are often hung over doorways or added into other festive decorating schemes. But you don’t often see anyone growing this curious plant. Mistletoe acts somewhat parasitically, growing on other trees’ branches and leeching the nutrients from them. You can grow your own by depositing mistletoe seeds onto the newer branches of one of your own trees.
Amaryllis
When amaryllis flowers bloom, they create large, trumpet-shaped blossoms of red, white, or combinations somewhere in between. The flowers are delightfully showy and may reach up to 10 inches wide. Some cultivars are especially popular around the holiday season. These include the “Fire Dancer,” which blooms into a stunning red, and the “Christmas Gift,” which produces peaceful-looking, pure white flowers. Amaryllises naturally bloom in the spring. However, try snipping off their stems after they finish blooming. If you provide them with ample light, water, and nutrients, they will happily rebloom over the holiday season.
Christmas Cheer Azalea
The Christmas Cheer azalea is a Rhododendron shrub that blooms in the late winter and early spring. It produces bright red or soft pink flowers to liven up even the bleakest winter day. They’ll produce closely-spaced clusters of flowers in several batches over a long period. To promote new growth, remove old blooms from the plant once they begin to wilt.
Winter Cherry
Solanum pseudocapsicum, also known as the winter cherry or Jerusalem cherry, is a popular plant to buy around Christmastime. Whether you want to display it ornamentally or give it as a gift, it’s a great choice. The plant flowers during the summer and produces its red, cherry tomato-like berries close to winter. This plant is a member of the nightshade family. The fruit is mildly poisonous with the potential to cause gastric problems if ingested.
Christmas Rose
The Christmas Rose, or Helleborus niger, is not truly a rose. It’s actually part of the buttercup family. This plant produces large flowers that look somewhat like wild roses. The flowers bloom throughout the winter season. The blooms are either pure white or accented with hues of pink, green, or a tinge of yellow. This is another poisonous plant that can cause a burning sensation in the mouth, eyes, and throat. It will also cause gastrointestinal symptoms. So, be sure to keep it where pets and children won’t have access to it.
Paperwhite Narcissus
Paperwhite narcissus, or Narcissus papyraceus, is a type of daffodil. These plants bloom beautiful bunches of snowy white flowers. The flowers are incredibly fragrant and give off a spicy aroma. They can be grown outside but aren’t very winter-hardy, so grow these guys indoors over the winter. And allow their gorgeous floral displays and delightful scents to impress your holiday visitors. You can buy bulbs in the fall, and they’ll grow and bloom in almost no time at all.
Easy-Care Indoor Plants for Winter: Peace Lily
The peace lily is one of the most demure and elegant-looking flowering plants. They don’t need much sun, so they’re an excellent choice as an indoor plant, especially during the winter months. Peace lilies typically bloom in the spring. However, if you give them proper care, they can be encouraged to bloom again in the fall. Their flowers last for about two months.
Indoor Plants for Winter - The Wrap-up
The holidays are a time of warmth and happiness. So, add some color to your otherwise dormant indoor garden with these festive indoor plants for winter. But remember, while these species may be typical Christmas decor, they might not be cold-weather loving plants. Be sure to keep your living plants away from chilly drafts and icy windows. Every plant comes with its climate preferences, so check the care instructions when purchasing your holiday plants. Then, provide them with the water, temperature, and light requirements they need to flourish.
