Poinsettia Care

It’s that time of the year when you’ll find lovely Poinsettias to brighten the Holidays. A question often arises how do I keep my plant looking nice throughout the Holiday season and on into Spring?

Poinsettias are tropical warm loving plants that like good light. Place it near a sunny window. South, east or west facing windows are preferable to a north facing window. Water the plant whenever the surface feels dry to the touch. Water until it drains out the bottom, but don’t let the plant sit in water. Wilting is another common cause of leaf drop. A wilted plant can be revived and salvaged, but it will take another season to improve its appearance. Fertilizer is not necessary until the days lengthen in February. Keep them from drafty areas such as doorways.

Humidity- Lack of humidity during dry seasons, in particular winter, is an ongoing houseplant problem. If your home tends to be dry and your poinsettia is in direct light, you will find yourself watering frequently, possibly every day.
When you purchase your Poinsettia be sure you keep it warm until you get home with it. Make it your last purchase before going home so it doesn’t sit in an unheated car while you shop.

To Rebloom for the next season:
During winter, continue to follow holiday upkeep tips.
March 17 (St. Patrick's Day): When bracts fade, cut stems back to eight inches above soil line.
Continue to water regularly.

Lightly fertilize with a good, balanced all-purpose fertilizer every three to four weeks.
When temperatures are warm, place plant outdoors; first in indirect, then direct sunlight. Avoid temperatures below 50 degrees throughout the summer.

July 4 (Independence Day): Cut back new growth stems. Repot if needed.
Early September (Labor Day): Move plant inside. Provide six or more hours of direct light.
October 1 through mid-December: Confine plant to complete darkness for 14 hours, giving it 10 hours of natural light daily. This will set the buds and cause bracts to color.

OUR FOLIAGE IS SHOWING

Do you know that you could lift the spirits of everyone in your home and at the same time make your home a healthy place for the family to spend their time this winter? If you’re curious you should try adding color to your home with green foliage and flowering plants.

You’d be surprised how quickly your ‘new guests’ will make the home a different place. NASA the space agency learned that green foliage plants remove certain toxins from the home that may be embedded in your furniture or your rugs, especially if the home or addition has been recently remodeled.
 

These harmful toxins subtly steal away your health and by using green foliage plants at various places in the home you can neutralize the effect of these toxins and brighten everyone’s day. What an easy and safe way to improve the environment.
 

Green is a color that reminds us of spring, nature, health, good luck, youth and vigor. It has the effect of calming and soothing and has great healing powers. It is often worn by surgeons in operating rooms for this reason.

So if you want to make real changes in the atmosphere and the attitude of your family visit a greenhouse which stocks such plants as Golden Pothos, Philodendron, and Spider Plants, all of which are easy care low light and require minimum water, perhaps weekly is adequate.

Plants become friends and like pets, are part of your lifestyle. You really can afford to make your friends green with envy when they see your living, healthy plants and tell them that they work to clean the air as well.

This month is the month when foliage fills the spaces in greenhouses that formerly were filled with Christmas Flowers. The selection is usually the best at this time.

So take advantage of the great buys at local greenhouses that specialize in and even
grow their own foliage plants like the Ashcombe Farm & Greenhouses at Williams Grove near Mechanicsburg. Visit us on the web at www.ashcombe.com

BIRDS IN YOUR GARDEN

Winter is for the birds and they depend on you to help them enjoy this cold and beautiful time of year. The best way to help is to provide a sheltered place to feed them and also a place where you can view their busy flits from tree to feeder.

Many types of feeders are available but the important thing is that you match the bird feed with the ones you want attract.

For example the cardinal above loves:
Sunflower or safflower seeds.
Cardinals will eat from feeders which have a built in or hand made perch. Feed them on the ground also if squirrels aren't a problem.

Here's a list of birds that will visit your yard, and their preferred foods.

American Goldfinch — Bright gold with dark wings in summer, the male American Goldfinch looks rather drab in the winter. But this bird's perchickoree song brightens a winter's day, and it seems they are always hungry for thistle seeds. A special feeder made just for goldfinches has thin holes just big enough for the birds to get their beaks in and snatch a seed. That keeps the bigger birds away.

Black-capped Chickadee — This charming ball of fluffy black and white adds cheer to many a winter garden. Chickadees will eat sunflower seeds, suet, and peanuts. Watch them as they take turns snatching seeds from the feeder. It's only one chickadee at a time on the feeder and the leader of the pack gets to go first. Chickadees stash seeds in crevices to eat later. Their ability to store food and rediscover their pantries later helps them survive the winter.

Blue Jay — These birds can be scarce in winter if their favorite winter food, acorns, isn't plentiful. But they will eat sunflower seeds as well as cracked corn and peanuts. Though considered to be gregarious, blue jays tend to be shyer around gardens than other birds. They are among the first to fly away when disturbed.

Dark-eyed Junco – Another winter visitor, the Dark-eyed Junco prefers feeding on the ground, snatching cracked corn and thistle and sunflower seeds dropped below feeders.

White-breasted Nuthatch — Nuthatches can go up and down a tree head first, enabling them to get at morsels other critters can't. Their favorite feeder foods are sunflower seeds and suet.

Woodpeckers — Three types of woodpeckers hang around feeders in northern Illinois in winter — the Downy, the Hairy, and the Red-bellied. The most common is the Downy. Woodpeckers are adept at finding dormant larvae and insect eggs in the crevices of tree bark. Their long, sticky tongues snatch up the critters other birds can't get. Woodpeckers readily come to suet feeders and peanut feeders. A suet cage hanging far from a squirrel's grasp will be no problem for a woodpecker that can cling to the feeder with its strong feet.