Gardendaze

I promise, no more zygocacti today at least. Yes, there are other plants you can grow this time of year in a cold house that are not poinsettias  (although I confess, every time I walk by a display of those brightly colored plants, I eye them wistfully. The glittery ones are even starting to look good to me. That’s how you know that I have poinsettia envy.)

One of the best plants for a bit of Christmas color  (and yes, I mean Christmas–the plant is red and green) is the red-leaved aglaeonema, otherwise known as a Chinese evergreen, shown in my photo above.

These stunning plants come in lots of color variations but the variations are mostly green and white. This variety with a red variation is perfect for Christmas.

What’s better is that it tolerates the cool house that I have (into the upper 50s at night and no higher than 70 at best during the day ). It also doesn’t need full sun–it prefers bright indirect light and will burn if put too near my east window.

These are generally readily available. Mine came from a box store. I have had it over 2 years and only repotted it once so far. It hasn’t had any pests since I have owned it. And it tends to keep its neat shape. I can highly recommend it.