Poinsettias, Christmas cacti, cyclamen, various forced bulbs and several other seasonal potted plants are again becoming popular. It happens annually prior to Christmas. Heath, heather, rosemary, English holly with berries, and delightful compact conifers have been gaining popularity for many past years. Seasonal potted plants are increasingly diverse.
Unfortunately, few survive for long after Christmas. Forced bulbs exhaust their resources. Cyclamen are likely to rot after a month or so. Very few retire to a garden. Poinsettia gets too lanky in the garden to be a favorite. Most seasonal plants simply succumb to neglect. After their primary performances, they are no longer interesting enough to justify tending.
In reality, some of these seasonal potted plants are little more than cut flowers with roots. These roots allow them to live longer than cut flowers, but their ultimate fate is the same. Wreaths, garlands and various seasonal cut greenery likewise serve a purpose, but only temporarily. Without roots, it all lacks any potential to retire into a garden after Christmas.
Christmas trees are really not much different. Although there are several different sorts of Christmas trees, they fit into similar categories as cut foliage and seasonal potted plants. Obviously, they are seasonal. They need not last much longer than Christmas. Although, some have a potential to do so, few survive or function for more than a few Christmases.
Contrary to popular belief, and their expense, cut Christmas trees are generally the most practical Christmas trees. They are essentially a very substantial sort of cut foliage. They grow on farms like any other foliage and vegetables. After such a tree serves its purpose, it resigns to compost or green waste recyclery. A freshly cut tree can replace it next year.
Large potted Christmas trees may seem to be more practical, but require maintenance to remain as appealing as they are now for another year. Despite the expense, few last that long. They want to get out of confinement, so that they can grow as trees. Pre-decorated small trees are Italian stone pines. They grow much too big for contained home gardens.
It is certainly not my favorite small tree. Actually, in most situations, I rather dislike it, which is why I sometimes accidentally spell it without the first ‘e’. It is a cop out; a micro tree that too often ends up where a larger and more respectable tree would be more appropriate. They are not shade trees. They are not not big enough for freeway landscapes or to be street trees on wide boulevards. They are not immune to diseases and insect infestations; and they commonly drop honeydew from aphid or scale infestation, and lose their bloom to powdery mildew. They are not ‘low-maintenance’, and really should be pruned more than they are, but will get you in trouble with the neighbors if you prune them as aggressively as they should be pruned.
We do not get much frost here. This picture of the view through the windshield of one of the work vehicles was taken more than a week ago, while the humidity and the temperatures were still quite low. The sparse and angular pattern of the frost on the windshield is a result of the minimal humidity. There will be more frost later in winter, although there will not be nearly as much as most other climates get.
For those who do not remember what ‘rain’ is, it is, it is those odd drops of water that fall so mysteriously from the sky in other regions. We get it here too, just very rarely, and almost exclusively within a limited season centered around winter. Rain tends to be affiliated with storms. The last storm moved through here last spring.
Tony Tomeo 