IF I SAY: fast, title a vacation flower, you may first reply poinsettia. However the poinsettia wasn’t all the time synonymous with this time of 12 months, right now’s visitor tells me – like as soon as upon a time greater than a century in the past the chrysanthemum took middle floral stage from Thanksgiving to New 12 months’s, shocking as which may sound.
Whether or not historic or cutting-edge fashionable, horticulturist Matt Mattus reminds us there are various decisions of festive blooms, together with varied ones we are able to develop ourselves indoors, and he has methods for perfecting even essentially the most acquainted of these – your amaryllis, as an illustration.
Matt Mattus is a lifelong plant individual – and that’s placing it mildly – and I can all the time rely on him to be showcasing some drool-worthy flower on his Instagram feed, even in winter. That’s one among his exhibition mums, referred to as ‘Fleur des Lis,’ above.
You might recall a well-liked dialog I had about Christmas cactus with Matt, who’s Senior Director of Horticulture for the American Horticultural Society. Matt gardens in Massachusetts, and is the creator of assorted backyard books, together with “Mastering the Artwork of Vegetable Gardening” and “Mastering the Artwork of Flower Gardening.” He additionally gives session providers each just about and in individual to assist others with garden-design and plant-care points.
Learn alongside as you hearken to the Dec. 8, 2025 version of my public-radio present and podcast utilizing the participant beneath. You’ll be able to subscribe to all future editions on Apple Podcasts (iTunes) or Spotify (and browse my archive of podcasts right here).
the historical past and how-to of vacation flowers, with matt mattus
Obtain file | Play in new window |
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify
Margaret Roach: So ho, ho, ho, Matt or one thing [laughter]. How are you?
Matt Mattus: I’m nice. I do know these of us within the Northeast are struggling via our first snowstorm.
Margaret: I do know. In contrast to final 12 months once I don’t suppose we had it straight away, did we?
Matt: I do know. However hey, it’s beginning to really feel like the vacation season a minimum of.
Margaret: Yeah. I’m not trying ahead to the single-digit nights although which might be developing within the subsequent few days. That’s not my favourite factor. Maintain these pipes unfrozen, child [laughter].
Matt: That jogs my memory, I’ve to show the heater on within the greenhouse for that.
Margaret: Hey: That is your reminder, Matt; that is your reminder: Batten down the hatches.
So yeah, so we did Christmas cactus not so a few years in the past, and it’s not precisely a vacation flower, so to talk. I imply, it’s a flowering plant. However anyway, I’ve been watching your Instagram, as I stated within the introduction, and also you’ve been displaying these unimaginable chrysanthemums and so forth. [Above, some of Matt’s Christmas cactus.]
And it received me nostalgic in a humorous means, as a result of one of many first photos, child photos I’ve of myself is standing in entrance of a row of ordinary, single-stem, one-flower-at-the-top disbudded chrysanthemums that my grandmother grew annually for the autumn flower present. She was into that, and she or he coated them with black fabric for X variety of hours an evening in order that they received the correct quantity of darkness or regardless of the triggers have been. And so there I’m with these present mums.
Matt: Oh my God, how did I not know this?
Margaret: Bizarre, proper? [Laughter.]
Matt: Yeah, no, that’s actually wonderful. However to begin with, it’s well timed, I feel. Let’s say the exhibition chrysanthemum, these you’re speaking about, the form of one big flower in a single stem have been simply out of vogue for the previous 70 years, I imply, until you’re a member of the Chrysanthemum Society. And abruptly previously 5 years, and even the previous two years, it’s in all places on Instagram. It’s just like the “it” flower abruptly.
Margaret: Sure, sure.
Matt: The brand new dahlia, however it’s nice. However they have been the vacation flower a century in the past. Chrysanthemums have been straightforward to develop, and so they grew all summer time—they develop from cuttings within the spring after which they develop all summer time. So native florists may develop these of their greenhouses, even when they saved them chilly within the winter. However discuss native flowers, that was the flower obtainable between October and New 12 months’s.
Margaret: So that you see classic photos of those on the holidays and stuff? Cool.
Matt: Yeah, I imply, in case you simply go into Etsy or no matter and, say, search for classic engraved vacation playing cards, you begin seeing all these flowers that aren’t usually what we consider as vacation flowers. I imply even goldenrod you’ll see on a card from the mid-Nineteenth century, however typically chrysanthemums for vacation card with a bit of holly.
Margaret: [Laughter.] Chrysanthemums and holly; that’s a humorous combo. And once more, as I stated additionally within the introduction, we predict poinsettia and that we predict, oh, effectively, that should have been ceaselessly as a result of it’s so ubiquitous, however it’s not. It’s far more fashionable, proper, comparatively talking?
Matt: Completely fashionable. Yeah. In actual fact, it’s so fashionable as a potted plant, it actually wasn’t till the Nineteen Fifties the place you began seeing… You consider these brief ones you see now within the markets with gold foil on them, and so they’re solely a foot excessive, and that’s comparatively new. That’s mid-Twentieth century. The Ecke breeding in California and all these lovely colours and ugly colours, nonetheless you are feeling about-
Margaret: Paul Ecke?
Matt: Yeah, he reworked the poinsettia. However in case you have a look at any outdated vacation film, they have been a minimize flower. They have been primarily… in case you have a look at “Christmas in Connecticut,” that’s a vase of minimize flower poinsettias on the piano. They have been grown in California. There was an enormous deal in Hollywood. I imply, it was grown as a crop, a discipline crop, in Hollywood the place they’d have a poinsettia trolley that may take you out to have a look at the fields and you’ll minimize stems. And nearly each outdated film from the 40’s, you gained’t see a potted one, you’ll see them as a bouquet or in a vase.
Margaret: After which we invented the expansion regulators that may very well be sprayed on them to maintain them dwarf, and we put them in pots and mastered all that stuff.
Matt: Which brings us again to hardy mums, proper? The mounded mums—that’s what’s given the chrysanthemum, I feel, a foul title, apart from grocery store mums that have been low cost and simple to export. However that’s all altering.
So vacation flowers the place they actually return in time; such as you stated earlier than. What was there earlier than the poinsettia, as a result of actually in despite the fact that the poinsettia was found in what the mid-Nineteenth century and dropped at Philadelphia and actually solely grown by the very rich who may afford a hothouse. And also you needed to shade them, similar to you talked about,with the chrysanthemums. You needed to shade them to regulate the photo-periods so they’d bloom at Christmas, in any other case they’d bloom… In Hawaii—I went to varsity in Hawaii, and so they bloom there, form of naturalized within the woods; they develop them like hydrangeas there round your own home. They might bloom January and February. They’re 12 ft, however not as a potted business plant.
Margaret: Fairly humorous. So these are two issues fairly outdated and with the mum, and fewer so with the poinsettia; greenhouse crops, actually. And you’ve got a small greenhouse, and so that you’re in a position to develop a number of the mums, and that’s actually enjoyable. They usually’re beautiful. And I’ll give the hyperlink to your Instagram as a result of a number of the flower kinds are simply unbelievable.
However for these of us for whom it’s the wintertime, the vacation time, and so on., the issues we are able to develop in our homes if we don’t have a greenhouse, plenty of them are bulbs, sure?
Matt: Yeah, completely. Bulbs go means again. I imply, yeah, the chrysanthemum is one thing—simply to the touch rapidly on that—they’re troublesome to develop until you may have a greenhouse, as a result of perhaps within the mid-Atlantic states you may get them to bloom outdoor, however they do bloom late. So until you may have a spot, a porch or someplace to maintain them, that’s troublesome for the exhibition ones.
However that is if you’re seeing vacation crops on the market at florists or on the florist market at a grocery store. Pondering again on these, I’m pondering bulbs have been all the time, I feel the very first thing. Loads of us consider amaryllis or paperwhites, and I all the time felt—I don’t know in case you did—it is likely to be simply my age, however I felt that they have been form of mid-Twentieth century. I didn’t see them earlier than that.
Margaret: I believed that, too. After which once we chatted the opposite day on the cellphone, you informed me that amaryllis have been round a extremely very long time. How outdated?
Matt: Nicely, I imply, so the late 1600s. I imply, they’re from South America, so that they actually weren’t dropped at Europe till the Dutch introduced them. However let’s say by 1700 or 1730s, they have been in Europe and began to be pressured. They realized that this was a plant that bloomed within the winter, and it was straightforward to develop since you may ship them on a ship.
If you consider it, bulbs are completely designed, they’re completely packaged, to be on a service provider ship within the 1700s. They arrive from the Southern Hemisphere, they’re grown reverse seasons. To allow them to promote these after they went to Europe whereas they have been dormant. After which what can be higher than having one thing flowering in seventeenth, 18th, Nineteenth century within the winter in Europe? Particularly in Germany and England, and that’s the place individuals have been actually simply beginning to develop florist flowers, Primula, or something that may flower in very late winter, early spring.
However paperwhites have been nearer to them as a result of they’re from the Mediterranean space. So actually they date again, too, fairly far. So these aren’t even one thing that Lincoln would have had. It was means earlier than that.
Margaret: And so one of many issues that’s fascinating with the amaryllis is that they’re not all precisely the identical. You have been simply speaking about the place they initially hail from and so forth. However the place we get them organized from right now, our bulb catalogs, they’re coming from two totally different locations, I imagine, and so they behave otherwise due to that. So an amaryllis will not be an amaryllis will not be an amaryllis, proper? [Laughter.]
Matt: Even within the title amaryllis is complicated. It’s similar to Geranium and Pelargonium. So the true Amaryllis is Amaryllis belladonna. We’re not speaking about that plant. The plant we’re referring most of us consult with as amaryllis is Hippeastrum. That may be the genus. You not often would see them bought by that. I feel everybody can image an amaryllis—the large big bulb, huge pink flower. That’s what we’re speaking about right here.
And yeah, they return fairly far, however in addition they are Southern Hemisphere, Brazil, Paraguay, South American plant. There are a selection of species; there’s multiple. And the fashionable ones we see right now are sometimes crosses or form of complicated crosses of quite a lot of species. I imply, nobody must know that, however you is likely to be questioning why you’re seeing spidery-flowered ones now or miniature ones, and there’s simply plenty of breeding occurring.
However the Southern Hemisphere ones have been all the time those that may, in the event that they have been shipped from the Southern Hemisphere, they’d bloom at Christmas extra seemingly. And also you’ll see that right now in catalogs. A superb bulb catalog would say, this can be a Southern Hemisphere-grown bulb. And also you is likely to be questioning, I am going to an enormous field retailer and I see an amaryllis with the flower bud rising proper now. Yeah, that’s most likely going to bloom for Christmas.
However you additionally may purchase this huge costly bulb, and also you’re questioning, why isn’t the bud popping out? I potted it. It’s been three months and there’s no bud. That’s widespread. And people typically are ones which might be grown within the Netherlands. A lot of the bulbs are grown within the Netherlands. However there are some Netherlands bulbs which might be handled, so they’ll bloom at Christmas.
Margaret: Oh my goodness.
Matt: The catalogs aren’t actually clear about that. So I might say all the time search for a bulb that claims Christmas-blooming if you’d like that.
Margaret: If that’s what you need, if that’s what you’re on the lookout for, a vacation factor. Proper. So if you say Southern Hemisphere versus the Netherlands, Northern Hemisphere ones, is it like South Africa? The place are we speaking about that they’re coming from?
Matt: Yeah, largely South Africa, some in South America, however I feel most are South Africa now, however they may very well be grown anyplace within the Southern Hemisphere. Yeah. It’s principally how they’re saved.
And this does return to how will we get a bulb to bloom ourselves? They must have that relaxation interval. So those within the Southern Hemisphere, clearly they’ve been saved dormant longer, and so they’re extra prone to begin blooming. I feel those within the Netherlands, in the event that they’re Christmas-blooming, in case you do ever see any that say a Dutch bulb, however it’s nonetheless Christmas-blooming, it would most likely bloom early January, not at Christmas precisely.
Nevertheless it’s common to purchase an costly bulb. The dearer bulbs are normally higher, I’ll say that. I imply, individuals complain that, “I paid $35 for a bulb.” However I don’t know in case you’ve observed it, however these huge bulbs that appear like softballs typically have three buds that may come out over three or 4 months. So that you’re actually getting-
Margaret: It’s unbelievable. You’re actually getting three bulbs. It’s nearly such as you’re getting three bulbs in a single.
Matt: You get what you pay for with an amaryllis.
Margaret: Do you attempt to rebloom yours or do you discard them? Inform the reality. [Laughter.] As a result of one of many issues is that, and we’re simply speaking about relying on the place they’ve been ready, so to talk, the place they’re coming from nursery-wise, being shipped from—which hemisphere and the situations there—dictates when it’s going to bloom.
After which the subsequent 12 months, in case you resolve to maintain it—or a minimum of this has been my expertise—it’s not the identical situations. I’m not going to offer the identical situations that it was used to in these earlier years. So it’s received to get used to me and resolve below my protocol and my situations when it’s going to bloom and it’s going to take a 12 months or two or no matter. So I’m going to suppose I’m failing. Nevertheless it’s not that; it’s that it was programmed, so to talk, to a distinct world altogether than the place I’m, if it got here from South Africa or it got here from the Netherlands. Proper?
Matt: Proper, precisely. Loads of bulb collectors or critical bulb collectors discuss flipping that Southern-Northern Hemisphere timing with their South African bulbs; so it may very well be any South African bulb, and they’ll alter to our Northern Hemisphere.
Margaret: In time.
Matt: In time. However you must be affected person. So hats off to anybody who can get an amaryllis to rebloom. You’ll be able to completely. To reply your query, I’m a really lazy gardener, and I suppose irresponsible. I imply, once I was rising them in the home, I may by no means get them to bloom. Nevertheless, I do know some people who actually can get them to bloom, and good for them. Nevertheless, with the greenhouse, as soon as I had the greenhouse, I used to be nonetheless a sloppy gardener and lazy. And since I’m rising so many issues, and sometimes an amaryllis after it bloomed in January or February, I don’t know the place it went. It went below a bench or it fell off right into a potted lemon tree. And the potted tree was introduced out in the summertime, and I didn’t even know the bulb was there. And I began noticing bulbs popping up within the greenhouse that dropped and began blooming the next 12 months.
And I believed, “Oh, I suppose I can rebloom them.”
It comes right down to how effectively you take care of it. I imply, so yeah, if you wish to get amaryllis to bloom, you completely can simply consider it as a photo voltaic panel. As quickly because it blooms minimize the stem off—and so they make nice minimize flowers too, if you wish to minimize it earlier than the buds open. However that helps.
You wish to preserve that bulb actually well-energized, in order many leaves as doable within the brightest solar you may all winter. Maintain it rising via spring and thru summer time and fertilize it each two or three weeks with balanced fertilizer; they’re heavy feeders. You wish to get an enormous bulb once more, and also you don’t wish to starve it. These amaryllis, something within the amaryllis household, kinds the embryonic flower buds like one, two, typically three years prematurely, deep inside that bulb.
Margaret: Wow.
Matt: So if for some motive that bulb despatched up three flower buds, it may not the subsequent 12 months, or perhaps it has two extra in there prepared to return out that began forming. So just like Agapanthus do the identical factor, or Nerine, however probably you’ll get a minimum of one flower bud that subsequent 12 months, and perhaps in case you saved it on that cycle once more. However round August, you wish to cease watering it after which give it a relaxation that’s dry, and it ought to be like a six- to 10-week relaxation. So that you most likely gained’t be a Christmas-blooming bulb once more. It’ll be like a February-March blooming bulb. However that may be the best way to do it. Simply you wish to actually take excellent care of it.
Margaret: Once more, don’t suppose you failed if it doesn’t bloom the primary, the subsequent 12 months, the primary full 12 months with you, so to talk, whether it is rising, it places out leaves and all the pieces; it might simply take extra time. Or hand over and purchase a brand new bulb [laughter].
Matt: Nicely, it’s the best way bulbs work. I imply, this results in paperwhites [above] as a result of I all the time get requested, “Can I learn bloom a paperwhite?” And you may, I imply, however I don’t know why you’ll wish to, as a result of these are commercially grown. They’re closely fertilized; they’re handled similar to they’re principally grown on the best resort on the planet to bloom once more. However I’ve some within the greenhouse once more that fall off the bench onto the ground and so they bloom.
And you understand what? In the event you’re listening in Arkansas or Louisiana, they’ve naturalized outdoor, or Southern California, so they’re a Narcissus; these are a daffodil, principally. So we know how we’re rising them, placing them in rocks or in a vase with water and alcohol, no matter will not be one of the best situations to deal with your bulb if you’d like it to rebloom once more. In the event you do need it to bloom once more, it’s good to plant it like an actual Narcissus, like 2 inches deep within the floor, in potting soil, and fertilize it after it’s bloomed. And it’s plenty of work.
Margaret: Yeah, that loopy alcohol factor, I imply, that was a rage for some time. I don’t know if it nonetheless is or not. I don’t see about it as a lot as I used to years in the past. However simply inform us, what was that concept, the concept that you might do them in alcohol or no matter?
Matt: Yeah, I imply, once I first heard that, I believed, oh, that’s simply one other fable or hack that it appeared loopy, however it really does work. And there was actual analysis behind it. There was a research at Cornell, I imagine college students at Cornell first did this. You may Google it and discover out, however it was, I feel it’s 10 p.c alcohol?
Margaret: Like vodka?
Matt: Vodka, or Everclear—yeah, like Everclear or vodka. I feel it’s one half, like 1 out of seven or no matter. [The Cornell report is here; the percent alcohol is 4 to 6 percent and the dilution to achieve that depends on the proof of the alcohol you use.]
Clearly that’s not the precise recipe. Nevertheless it does work. However the trick with it, and I’ve seen this on Instagram rather a lot proper now, is individuals are planting their bulbs and so they’re watering them with this alcohol-water combination. And that’s not the best way to do it. You need to plant your bulbs both in soil or in rocks, so no matter means you’re going to develop them, after which water them with common water till they’ve emerged about 4 inches after which begin the alcohol water. And that does preserve them dwarf on the proper top in your dinner desk or in a windowsill, as a result of paperwhites can develop 24 inches tall and flop over.
Margaret: So the concept is that they get a bit drunk and so they don’t develop as a lot [laughter]. O.Okay.
Matt: It stunts your progress, in order that’s why you don’t drink alcohol, I suppose.
Margaret: O.Okay. So do you may have explicit ones that you just’ve sought out and that you just develop? Do you develop them in soil? You have been speaking about potting them up in pots of soil. Do you develop them that means, or do you develop them in gravel? What do you do?
Matt: I do it quite a lot of other ways. It relies upon. So I’m actually rising them for adornment in the home throughout the holidays. And yearly I do one thing totally different. Generally I would do a pyramid in a bunch of vintage vases, after which I would use soil potting soil. I’m not making an attempt to rebloom them in any respect, so it doesn’t actually matter. It’s extra of an aesthetic factor.
However I feel my favourite means now’s form of a gravel and soil combination in a container that doesn’t have drainage holes in it. So the extra conventional bulb pan means [above]. However then I put inexperienced moss on high so it appears to be like good. So it’s extra concerning the aesthetics. However I just like the perfume. I don’t learn about you [laughter].
Margaret: Nicely, I used to be going to say, so to me that’s the deciding issue with these as a result of amaryllis, they’re lovely and there’s now, as you’ve identified with the breeding, there’s form of a shade or a flower kind for each style, and even a top since they’re experimenting now extra with miniatures and so forth. However with the paperwhites, you both like it otherwise you hate it, the perfume. It’s robust. For me, it’s robust. I’m a kind of individuals who with sure actually robust flowers. What’s the white lily that’s so robust? An outside plant?
Matt: Oh yeah, like a ‘Casablanca’ kind.
Margaret: Precisely. ‘Casablanca.’ After which there’s some form of vine kind thing-
Matt: Yeah, there’s some flowers that shouldn’t be the home, I agree.
Margaret: Yeah, there’s some which might be tremendous, super-strong and so they sort of get, to me, it’s like a bit an excessive amount of and I don’t really need it in the home as a lot.
Matt: Particularly in winter.
Margaret: Are all of the paperwhites as aromatic? All of the paperwhites are very aromatic? [Below, Matt stacks moss-covered pots and pans of bulbs to make impressive displays.]
Matt: Nicely, I imply breeders have chosen now, I imply there are most likely a dozen cultivars of paperwhites and perhaps eight or with the intention to discover. This 12 months for some motive the catalogs solely supplied a number of, so I’m undecided. Most of them are grown within the Center East.
However the strongest old school kind can be the cultivar referred to as ‘Ziva.’ So in case you just like the scent of paperwhites, in case you just like the cat pee scent, that’s the one to go to [laughter].
However new varieties like ‘Nir,’ that’s rather less potent although I feel some individuals nonetheless would suppose it’s very robust. However there are some which might be very sweet-smelling. So if there’s a sure kind of perfume you want—in case you prefer it to scent like powdered sugar or vanilla, ‘Galilee’ is a bit higher. I don’t know. I feel ‘Inbal’ is one. ‘Inbal’ is the one you’ll probably discover bought commercially, and that’s nearly scentless. However in case you like super-sweet, the old school—these have been grown in China again within the 1500s—so there’s one referred to as Chinese language Sacred Lily. They’re actually grown for form of lunar New 12 months.
Margaret: I didn’t know that. That’s fascinating.
Matt: Yeah, it’s tougher to search out, however I can’t discover it in plenty of Dutch bulb catalogs, however I discovered it at my native backyard middle. So some good backyard facilities may carry 5, six various kinds of paperwhites, however the ones which have a yellow middle, so like Chinese language Sacred Lily or typically ‘Grand Soleil d’Or,’ it has a yellow trumpet within the middle. These are typically sweeter-smelling. They’re form of nearer to ‘Erlicheer’ or the Narcissus you develop outdoor which have a number of small flowers, so that they scent actually scrumptious. However they’re not as floriferous; they gained’t produce as many flowers, although, and so they’re taller stems, so that they have their faults, too.
Margaret: How lengthy is it going to take? You stated you want them for indoor ornament and so forth. When are you potting these up? Have you ever already completed so? Do you do them in phases?
Matt: Yeah, I did mine yesterday for Christmas, however I additionally must form of time it. It relies upon how heat your own home is. So I’ve them indoors now in the home. I planted huge urns with a dozen bulbs in every. After which I do some particular person ones. And these are only for my Christmas desk. But when they begin to develop too lengthy, I deliver them out to the greenhouse as a result of it’s cool in there. It’s 40 levels, they’re getting full solar. I don’t have to do the alcohol therapy as a result of below these cool situations they gross stumpier and shorter.
Margaret: I used to be simply going to say, you’ve simply shared what a part of your vacation decor is. Is there the rest that there’s nonetheless time to try this we may do proper now? That there’s nonetheless time to do?
Matt: Nicely, I normally do my plant home windows with a mix of these, but additionally the brand new Cyclamen which might be popping out. There are plenty of fascinating varieties that don’t even appear like Cyclamen. So search for these. The miniature ones with upright flowers. There’s been plenty of breeding in Germany and within the Netherlands for the previous two or three years. So that you’re going to see Cyclamen that don’t even appear like Cyclamen. They appear like primrose—I imply they’re within the primrose household.
I’m mixing all these collectively. I feel even simply the buds of Amaryllis rising inside moss with paperwhites all collectively. You see that completed rather a lot now. They don’t must be in bloom to look that contact of spring; we like that contact of spring.
Margaret: Nature, proper. Nicely, thanks; thanks. These are good concepts, and I’m fascinated concerning the amaryllis as a result of I had no concept they have been coming from totally different locations or something. So I hope I’ll discuss to you once more quickly and ho, ho, ho, as I stated firstly,
Matt: Identical again to you, Margaret.
(Photographs from Matt Matus besides as famous.)
extra with matt mattus
desire the podcast model of the present?
MY WEEKLY public-radio present, rated a “top-5 backyard podcast” by “The Guardian” newspaper within the UK, started its sixteenth 12 months in March 2025. It’s produced at Robin Hood Radio, the smallest NPR station within the nation. Hear regionally within the Hudson Valley (NY)-Berkshires (MA)-Litchfield Hills (CT) Mondays at 8:30 AM Japanese, rerun at 8:30 Saturdays. Or play the Dec. 8, 2025 present utilizing the participant close to the highest of this transcript. You’ll be able to subscribe to all future editions on iTunes/Apple Podcasts or Spotify (and browse my archive of podcasts right here).
