By the time you go to all the time and expense of decorating for the holiday season, it is a safe bet that you will want to enjoy those decorations as long as possible. The good news is that a little time and forethought spent selecting, placing and caring for holiday plants and greenery is oftentimes the only difference between decorations that look good for a few days and those that look good for months. When buying plants try to pick plants that haven't yet reached their peak. Look for healthy plants that have both newly opened flowers and an abundance of buds. When buying a poinsettia, look for plants that haven't yet bloomed.
Most people think the red bracts are the flower blooms.
However, the flower is actually the little yellow cluster in the center of each whorl of bracts. For flowering holiday plants like poinsettias, Christmas cactus, Jerusalem cherry, and kalanchoe there are five basic rules of plant care. Before cutting greens for indoor decorations remember that the cuts you are making now will affect the shape and growth habit of that tree or shrub in the future - be judicious. When cutting greens, take a pale of water along and place the cut ends of branches in it as soon as they are cut. Hydrate cuttings by keeping the cut ends submerged in cold water for at least 8 hours.