Christmas is a long ways off. Here’s how to keep holiday plants fresh

Two days before Thanksgiving, the floral department in our local supermarket was packed with potted mums, hydrangeas, poinsettias and orchids, all in full bloom. Small live holiday trees and topiaries were tucked into corners. Not a bare space to be seen.

With so many choices for decorating your home for the holidays with live plants, here are a few suggestions for buying and keeping them looking fresh – especially this year when Thanksgiving arrived on the earliest day possible.

Look for unopened buds – The rule of thumb is to buy flowering plants with just one-third of the buds already open. The small yellow buds that are the actual flowers on poinsettias are found inside the colorful flower bracts. Potted hydrangeas often have just three or four large fully open flowers, but those flowers may remain fresh for several weeks. Look for orchids with several flower stalks and as many unopened buds as possible.

Don’t neglect them – Rotate the pots toward the available light every few days to encourage the buds to open evenly. Deadhead spent flowers on mums and hydrangeas as they die.

Be temperature sensitive – Keep holiday plants away from heat sources and cold drafts and out of direct sun; if you can, keep your decorative holiday plants in the coolest spots in the house with bright, indirect light. Potted plants are raised in greenhouse conditions that carefully regulate light and heat. Most can tolerate only a few days next to the busy front door on freezing nights before they begin to lose leaves and the flowers begin to wilt. That might mean keeping heat and dust-sensitive ivy topiaries on the sheltered patio and high humidity-loving orchids in the bathtub until an hour before the party’s scheduled to start.

Water them – Check soil moisture levels every day or two. Use your trusty finger to see if the top inch of soil is dry before you water. Many potted plants are now planted into water-retaining, non-soil mixes. Some of the mixes contain peat which dries out rock hard. If water runs out of the drain hole soak the pot in tepid water until bubbles no longer appear. Always remove any decorative wrapping and put potted plants into a cache pot or another pot on a saucer to prevent water damage to floors and furniture.

Anti-transpirants – Spray freshly cut trees, wreaths and garlands with an anti-transpirant before decorating. Anti-transpirants (sometimes referred to as anti-dessicants) coat the foliage thereby reducing or slowing moisture loss. Anti-transpirants are biodegradable, lightweight natural oils that can also be used to spray leaves on Japanese maples in summer to help prevent or reduce leaf scorch. Dried-out holiday greens become fire hazards. Spray cut greenery with the anti-transpirant a few hours before decorating. Most well-stocked garden centers and big box hardware stores carry anti-transpirants. Wilt-Pruf and Cloud Cover are two brand names.

Happy new year! Don’t automatically throw out plants after the holidays. Most flowering holiday plants are forced into bloom out of their natural season; it may take a year or two for them to find their seasonal rhythm again, but they usually do.. Rootballs are often compacted. Break or cut root balls apart, wash non-soil potting mixes off roots and replant into the garden or into containers. Topiaries do best when kept outside since the dry air and dust inside buildings often quickly kills them.