With Christmas right around the corner, it’s time to ponder what to gift your gardening friends. The classic holiday plant is poinsettia. However, other options are available.
Amaryllis is a bulb that produces large trumpet-shaped flowers. It is also a good container plant, and can reach a height and spread of 1 to 3 feet.
This bulb needs well-drained soil, has medium drought and low to no salt tolerance. It makes a great impact when planted on terraces, at gate entrances, or as a border plant in groups of 10 or more.
Plant this bulb between September and January.
Amaryllis performs best in partial shade and well in sun. Propagation is from seeds, cuttings and smaller bulbs attached to the mother bulbs. You can leave bulbs in the ground for years or dig them up and replant them during September and October. Blooms last for several weeks.
For more information, visit edis.ifas.ufl.edu/publication/fp255.
Gardenias produce fragrant white flowers and have glossy dark green leaves. This plant can reach a height and spread of 4 to 8 feet.
Full sun to partial shade provides the best flowering. Well-drained soil amended with organic matter is preferred. This large shrub has medium drought and low to no salt tolerance. It should be fertilized three times each year.
After flowering is complete, it can be pruned. However, if you prune after October 1, blooming the following year will be decreased. You propagate this plant by grafting or cuttings.
Gardenias can be used as a hedge or groundcover, and it’s beautiful in mass plantings or as a specimen plant.
For more information, visit edis.ifas.ufl.edu/publication/EP338.
You can also give a gardening-related gift that isn’t a plant. Consider giving items such as knee pads, a garden cart, a saw or pruner, gloves, seeds, bulbs, pots, mulch, potting soil, perlite, compost, plant hangers, composting bin, a composting worms, microirrigation kit, garden sculpture, garbage cans (I only have 11 and could use more), and dozens of other items gardeners want or need.
The University of Florida IFAS Extension Bookstore, ifasbooks.ifas.ufl.edu, has a selection of books on gardening, health and nutrition, homes and home maintenance, natural resources and wildlife, and more.
Offer your labor for a specific number of hours or tasks to perform for your friends who may not want or are not able to do them.
Tasks could include weeding, planting, pruning, watering, propagating, fertilizing, mulching and relocating plants.
Wishing all of you safe and wonderful holidays.