Favorite Holiday Season Plants

For our November 2010 Washington Gardener Reader Contest, we gave away passes to the Brookside Gardens’ Garden of Lights Show. Brookside Gardens’ Garden of Lights is a half-mile walk through a landscape of 940,000 twinkling colorful lights shaped in imaginative displays throughout the gardens. Enjoy the four seasons illuminated as giant summer sunflowers, autumn leaves, winter snowflakes, spring flowers, rain showers, and more. The show runs Friday, November 26, 2010 through Sunday, January 9, 2011 (with the exception of December 24-25 and January 3-6). The hours are 5:30 to 9:00pm, with the last car admitted at 8:30pm. Entry is by car/van and is $20 on Mon-Thurs and $25 on Fri-Sun.

The winners are:

- Alexandria Lippincott of University Park, MD

- Katie Rapp of Gaithersburg MD

- Kristen Menichelli of NE Washington DC

- Cathy Wintermyer of Cheverly, MD

- Patti Pride of NW Washington, DC

Congratulations to all!

The winners submitted their favorite holiday season plant and I have compiled them here:

~ My favorite holiday plant is the cranberry because it fills so many holiday roles. It is delicious; I couldn't imagine Thanksgiving turkey without it. I love to string it with popcorn for the birds outside at the holidays. Its color is simply gorgeous. And it is native to our country, and to the New England region that I love.

~ My favorite holiday plant: Amaryllis -- love those big, gaudy flowers!

~  My favorite holiday flower is the cyclamen—wonderful deep red color (and it is not a poinsettia).

~ My favorite holiday plant is the venerable Christmas cactus because it is like earthbound fireworks--a true celebration of the season in plant form.

~ My favorite holiday plant definitely has to be red poinsettia. I know it can be tacky, and over used at times, but there is definitely something about that plant that immediately makes me think of the holidays. Probably, it has something to do with the poinsettia fundraiser my church growing up in NC would have every year. You knew it was the holidays when those started showing up in every corner, and it was a treat to take them home during the midnight service on Christmas Eve. Now, as a young adult, something about them makes me smile every year, and think of my family who are far away. Living in DC urban suburbs, I'm glad to have some color in the winter, and a plant that looks happy and bright besides my Christmas tree.

So what is YOUR favorite holiday season plant?