How to Buy Indoor Flowering Plants as a Gift

Indoor flowering plants are the perfect gift. While the weather does its worst outside, the recipient can enjoy the color and fragrance of flowers inside for weeks at a time.

Instructions

Difficulty: Easy

Things You’ll Need:

• A Pretty Pot Or A Wicker Basket
• Dried Or Floral Moss
• Flowering Plants

Choosing the Plants

1. Decide on your budget. You can get bargain flowering plants, such as cyclamen or azaleas, for as little as $15. More unusual or large plants, such as a good-sized gardenia, can fetch up to $100.
2. Buy locally. Although indoor flowering plants look tempting in those catalogs or on a Web site, they don't travel well. You're best off buying an indoor plant you can see and tenderly take home yourself. The exception is purchasing bulbs, such as amaryllis or paper-whites, which ship well if still in bulb form.
3. Check plant health. Examine leaves carefully for yellowing or funny spots that might be a sign of disease. Also check to see if the plant is well-groomed. There should be no water-spotted leaves, weeds in the soil, or other signs that the plant has been less than well-cared for.
4. Consider care needs. Some indoor flowering plants, such as cyclamen, poinsettia, azaleas, hydrangeas, begonias, lilies, cineraria, and forced spring bulbs are among the easiest since they bloom for a few weeks and then are disposed of. More difficult are African violets, orchids, gardenias and miniature roses - largely because if well-tended, they'll bloom repeatedly.
5. Look for lots of buds. To get the most flowers for the longest period of time, choose a plant that is covered with buds that are just opening. A plant with lots of fully opened flowers may be on its way out.
6. Take your plant home carefully. Have the store slip it into a plastic or paper bag to protect it from cold temperatures outdoors, which can nip tender indoor plants. Don't let it sit in a very cold (or very warm) car for long. Instead, take it home and keep it well watered until giving time.

Presenting the Plants

7. Get rid of the wrap. That silvery or gold plastic paper they put around gift pots, frankly, is tacky. Make your gift a little more special by removing it and replacing it with something else.
8. Dress up the plant by slipping its plastic pot into a slightly larger and prettier pot or a wicker basket. If you can still see the plastic pot, tuck in a little floral moss or dried Spanish moss around the plant.
9. Tuck in a floral bow attached to a pick (available at gift stores and florist shops).
10. Slip the whole plant into a large cellophane bag, also available at gift stores and florists' shops. Secure the top with a bit of ribbon or gold string.

Tips & Warnings

• Don't expect your indoor flowering plant to bloom indefinitely. Most bloom for just a couple of weeks, though if well cared for some will bloom for months, depending on the type of plant.