BEAUTY: Cyclamen bloom in lovely shades of pink, lavender and white. The cold-loving plants make a great lasting gift for your Valentine. (Mary Fran McQuade/Vaughan Today)
What’s Valentine’s Day without flowers? Cut flowers are a fabulous luxury to give your sweetie, but think flowering plants for an even longer-lasting gift.
Most of what you see on the market now — azaleas, cyclamen and some spring bulbs — like more or less the same conditions: bright light (not direct sun) and cool temperatures of about 13 to 18 degrees.
Keep them moist, but not wet. Soil should be dry to the touch before you water. When you do give them a drink, water thoroughly, not just a bit at a time. One quick trick is to take the plant to the sink and soak the root ball all around until the water runs through. Another is to lift the pot before and after you water. It should feel solid and heavy for its size, not lightweight.
Of course, water is both friend and foe to potted plants. Letting them sit around with wet feet leads to rotten roots — and a lingering death for them. Avoid that by taking plants out of any decorative containers — ones without holes — that disguise humdrum plastic pots. Dump any water left in the outer container before you put the plant back in.
If pots are wrapped in those colourful foil sleeves, be sure to poke a drainage hole in the bottom and set the whole thing in a saucer so the water can escape.
How-to’s to keep them happy
Azalea (Azalea indica and A. kurume): Natives of Japan and China, these greenhouse-grown plants are cousins of the spectacular shrubs you see in southern gardens (and golf courses) in the spring.
Give them cool temperatures, good indirect light and lots of water. They tend to be tightly packed in their pots and difficult to keep moist. (The sink-soaking method mentioned above works well.) When nights are no longer frosty, put your azalea out in the garden in filtered sun and feed it regularly with a fertilizer for acid-loving plants.
It can be tricky to get azaleas to re-bloom. Some people find they revert to their natural cycle and flower again in summer. I get good results by leaving my potted azalea outdoors as long as possible in fall. When it comes back inside, it thinks it’s spring and bursts into bloom shortly before Christmas. I let it rest after flowering, then begin feeding when the days grow longer again.
Cyclamen (Cyclamen persicum): These striking beauties display butterfly-like flowers in glowing shades of pink, lavender and white, held well above the thick green leaves. You may need a sweater to enjoy them at their best: Cyclamen love cool rooms, between 10 and 18 degrees.
Keep them moist, but avoid pouring water directly on the corm — the bumpy knob that the flowers and leaves sprout from. As the flowers fade, remove them by twisting the stems gently at their base.
When flowering is over, give the plant a rest by holding off watering and removing the foliage as it dries up. Once the corm is bare, start watering again and feed with a flowering plant food. When nights warm up, bring it outside to summer in filtered sunlight.
Leave your cyclamen outdoors until nights are chilly but not freezing, and buds should start to form deep in the plant’s foliage. Bring it inside to enjoy all over again.
Spring bulbs (tulips, daffodils, etc.): Pots of spring bulbs are charming at Valentine’s Day – a preview of outdoors days ahead. Choose pots with flowers that are just opening and lots of unopened buds showing some colour. Keep them cool and well-watered, like the other plants listed here. Be especially careful to let the pots drain excess water, since bulbs rot easily. Snip off dead flowers to encourage newer buds to open. When flowering is over, keep them alive until you can plant them outdoors, if you like. Your bulbs may bloom again in the garden next year.
