Christmas rose care guide

From the living room to the garden

Indoors, a Christmas rose is a guest for a few weeks. Its flowers last longest in a cool room, about 13 to 16 °C (55⁠–⁠61 °F), so keep it in the coldest bright spot you have, such as a cool bedroom, a stairwell or an enclosed porch, and bring it to the table only while you enjoy it. A warm living room shortens flowering.

After flowering, get it used to outdoor air step by step. Put it in a sheltered, shady spot outside for a few hours on mild days and leave it out a little longer each day. Once it stays out day and night, plant it in the garden. Where the ground freezes in winter, wait until hard freezes are over. Light frost does no harm once the plant is used to the cold.

Plant it in part shade or full shade, out of cold winter wind, in moist, humus-rich, neutral to alkaline soil that drains well. It takes a few years to settle in and flowers best when left undisturbed. Outdoors it usually flowers in late winter, often in February or March in cold regions, and the white flowers fade to a soft pink as they age.

Water when the potting mix feels dry 2.5 cm (1 in) below the surface. Water until it runs out of the bottom of the pot, then empty the saucer. Do not let the root ball dry out completely, and do not keep it soggy: wet roots rot and the leaves turn yellow.

Pour the water onto the soil and keep the leaves and flowers dry. In a cool room the soil dries more slowly, so check it with your finger rather than watering on a fixed day.

Indoors, give it bright, indirect light, ideally at an east or west window. Too little light is a common reason it struggles in a house. Outdoors it wants part shade to full shade and no bright winter sun.

Do not feed it while it flowers. From April to September, while it grows, give a balanced houseplant fertilizer once a month at a quarter of the label strength. Once it is planted in the garden, one feed each spring is enough.

Indoors, 13 to 16 °C (55⁠–⁠61 °F) is ideal, and the cooler the room, the longer the flowers last. Warmth is its weak point, so keep it away from radiators and warm, sunny windows. Outdoors it is fully hardy in most of Europe: the RHS rates it H7, which means it survives winters down to −20 °C (−4 °F) or colder.

Ordinary room air is enough. Keep it away from heaters, which dry and warm the air, and keep the leaves and flowers dry when you water. Do not mist it.