1. Chrysanthemums

Chrysanthemums are beautiful during the holidays and all season! They grow in just about every color you can imagine and come in different varieties like spider mums and button mums. One of our favorites to use in winter and holiday arrangements is green button mums. They’re cheerful and look stunning with evergreen boughs and red ribbons.

To care for potted indoor mums and keep them blooming through the winter, place them in a location that will receive lots of sunshine. When the top inch of soil dries out, water your mum until water begins to drain from the bottom, but be careful not to let your mum sit in a pool of water.

2. Poinsettia

The poinsettia is a timeless winter and holiday classic. They begin to bloom once the days begin to grow short in the winter. Although many people mistake their brightly colored bracts (leaves) for the poinsettia’s flowers, its flowers are actually the small yellow clusters found at the center of the bracts. While red and white are favorite colors for winter gift-giving, poinsettias also come in yellow, orange, and pink varieties that can offer a fun take on traditional decorating.

To keep your poinsettia vibrant throughout the winter, place it in a sunny location. Water it frequently to keep the soil moist but never let your plant sit in standing water.

3. Amaryllis

Amaryllis flowers grow from bulbs, which bloom six to eight weeks after being planted, regardless of when they’re put in soil. This makes it easy to time them perfectly to have flowers in the winter. Amaryllis plants bloom in clusters of large, red flowers which will look beautiful as a part of your holiday decorations.

Just be careful to keep amaryllis plants out of the reach of small children and household pets. Like their lily cousins, amaryllis plants contain toxins that are poisonous to dogs, cats, and people.

4. Christmas Cactus

Another winter favorite is the Christmas cactus, which has beautiful tube-shaped flowers in shades of red, pink, orange, and white. Like poinsettias, the Christmas cactus also blooms in response to shorter days, which times its flowers perfectly for Christmas. Other varieties of this plant, the Thanksgiving and Easter cactuses, bloom closer to their respective holidays.

Another positive aspect of the Christmas cactus is that it’s one of few plants that isn’t poisonous for people or pets. Ingesting any part of the plant is sure to cause a stomach ache, but it won’t cause any real harm. This makes it a great choice for homes with small children and pets.

Be sure yours has plenty of sunshine, soil that drains easily, and frequent drinks of water. Although the Christmas cactus is a cactus, it’s not originally from the desert. Christmas cacti are native to humid forests of Brazil, where they grow on the bark of trees. As a result, they don’t tolerate drought as well as your average cactus or succulent.

5. Kalanchoe

This lovely succulent is the perfect plant for winter because it loves warm, dry indoor air and blooms from fall until spring. Kalanchoe plants have clusters of small flowers that come in all sorts of cheerful colors like red, pink, orange, yellow, and white.

Be sure your kalanchoe has abundant sunlight and a pot that will drain easily. The worst thing you can do for a kalanchoe is water it too frequently, so be sure to let the soil dry out completely in between waterings.