Flowering Plants for Valentine Gifts

Blooming Indoor Plants Offer Gifts of Love and Friendship

Jan 26, 2009

What better way to please your Valentine - or a special friend - on Valentine's Day than with an indoor plant with flowers that will keep blooming.

Indoor plants with blooms can keep the spirit of Valentine’s Day alive for months or even years. Choices come in seasonal bloomers or those that flower almost continually. Below are plants that grow easily indoors and bloom in bright, cheerful colors. Most can be purchased at a nursery, florist and at many supermarkets.

Wrapped in red tissue paper with a matching ribbon, they’re ready for Valentine’s Day giving.

By the end of January miniature daffodils begin appearing in shops. They’re popular, and no wonder: they bring the promise of spring in mid-winter. They can be given as Valentine gifts that brighten a sunny window indoors. In spring they can be planted outdoors in a patio container, window box or right in the garden. These sunny blossoms are inexpensive to purchase.

The showy red flowers of the tropical Anthurium bloom around the time of Valentine’s Day. The flowers are large and glossy. They do well in a shady spot which makes them ideal for indoor display as long as the interior temperature remains warm. Between flowerings, the long leaves make for handsome foliage plant.

Bromeliads (Various Species)

These tropical plants include many species in a variety of colors. Most have large, showy blooms arising from a rosette of green foliage. It is actually the bracts of the flower that are colored, typically in red or yellow. These exotic-looking plants make welcome gifts for any occasion.

African violets have been prized as houseplants for generations. Violet is the primary color of the flowers, but varieties also come in shades that include red, pink, blue and white. They bloom all year round. African Violets are generally small plants that can be dressed up for Valentine’s Day with a novelty container such as a heart-shaped tea cup. They’re easy to care for as long as they don’t get waterlogged. It’s also important to avoid dripping water on the soft, fuzzy leaves.

Another harbinger of spring, primroses begin blooming in January, just in time for Valentine’s Day. These come in a myriad of colors that can brighten a windowsill through spring. When the weather warms they can also be moved outdoors.

These fragrant relatives of daffodils are easy to start indoors in the dead of winter. Gift-givers can buy flowers already blooming or start the bulbs in a decorative bowl for their favorite Valentine. No soil is necessary.

To force paperwhite bulbs at home, they should be placed in a bed of small decorative stones in a four-inch deep container, pointed side up. Water comes next, covering only the base of the bulbs. A few small groups of bulbs placed tightly together in the bowl will provide a pleasing arrangement and help the sprouting stems support one another. They’ll begin to bloom in just a few weeks.

Flowering plants can be the perfect expression of love and friendship on Valentine's Day.

Sources:

Complete Houseplants, A Foolproof Growers’ Guide, by Jack Kramer, Creative Homeowner, Upper Saddle River, NJ, 2008.

Houseplants from A to Z, by Karin Greiner and Dr. Angelika Weber, Barron’s Educational Series, Inc., Hauppauge, N.Y., 2007.

Guide to Growing Healthy Houseplants, Denny Schrock, editor, Meredith Publishing Group, Des Moines, IA, 2005.

The copyright of the article Flowering Plants for Valentine Gifts in Houseplants is owned by Linda McDonnell. Permission to republish Flowering Plants for Valentine Gifts in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.