There are so many beautiful types of Christmas flowers available to use for your bouquets, arrangements, wreaths, swags and centerpieces.

Azaleas, cyclamen, Christmas cacti, and poinsettias are all simply gorgeous, but keeping them at their best requires a small investment in time and effort.

These particular Christmas flowers will fare best under cool conditions.

In fact, these plants will flower best and longer if they are kept cool. You can prolong the bloom of your Christmas flowers past the holidays if you keep them in the sort of environment that is most conducive to flowering.

In general, temperatures between 50 and 60 degrees Fahrenheit are optimum for these plants. However, poinsettias might be happier being just a bit warmer.

You don’t want the plants to get too cold at night. You should also be careful and not set them too close to a heater or heating duct or fireplace, because they will dry out under those conditions.

Here are a few tips on caring for some of two popular types of Christmas flowers:

Poinsettias:

Poinsettias can last for a long time if cared for properly. These Christmas flowers, which are actually bracts, are colorful and showy. They thrive in bright light but don’t place them in direct sun as this can be harmful. They want to be moist, but don’t over-water them. When the top of the potting soil feels dry to the touch, water thoroughly.

Be careful not to place poinsettias where they will be in a draught, or too close to a heat source such as a fireplace or heating duct, because this can dry the soil and plants too much. Poinsettias like being misted with water, and this will help to keep the flowers at their best.

Cyclamen:

Indoor cyclamen make gorgeous Christmas flowers and will put on an extravagant display of blooms for several months if tended to carefully. Always select a cyclamen with lots of flower buds and nice, healthy leaves.

These beautiful plants are happiest in cool, bright conditions. Avoid placing them in direct sunlight, however, or too close to heat sources.

Be judicious in watering, cyclamen dislike being overwatered.

You should remove spent flowers from the plants to keep them tidy. When blooming is complete, the leaves will turn yellow. Keep watering sparingly until the plant goes into summer dormancy. When the cyclamen begins showing new growth, resume watering and feeding for another season of beautiful Christmas flowers.

Poinsettias and indoor cyclamen are fantastic Christmas flowers that will reward you with abundant blooms if you care for them correctly.