Are houseplants on your Black Friday Shopping list? They should be! Soon you will be looking for ways to make your home or office look more festive, or trying to think of an inexpensive gift idea for the last minute holiday party invitations and the crazy plant lady in your office you got stuck with in Secret Santa. Here are three houseplants I recommend you buy and suggestions on who to give them to.
Poinsettias
Love them or hate them nothing says Christmas like a Poinsettia, a red Poinsettia to be exact. The "flowers" that we are all familiar with are actually the upper leaves of the plant called bracts. The real flowers are green and yellow and located in the center of the colorful bracts. Poinsettias are native to southern Mexico and Central America. Poinsettias were introduced to the United States by former US Minister to Mexico, Dr. Joel R. Poinsett whom they are named after. What would this amateur botanist think of the mass produced and spray painted poinsettias sprinkled with glitter available today? If you are, like me, a hater of Poinsettias consider buying them from a small nursery or greenhouse that propagates their own. "We grow about 3,500 of them with prices ranging from $15-$85 and can deliver all over Chicago," says Gina Soukal of Soukal Floral and Greenhouses on South Archer Avenue. Today the family owned business would be better described as Soukal Floral and Greenhouse, but in the 1930's the business consisted of nine greenhouses off of South Archer Avenue. All but one of the greenhouses were torn down to make way for homes and it is in this greenhouse (pictured above) where they propagate the Poinsettias they sell. For more information or to purchase a poinsettia, visit their website soukalfloral.com Or call (773) 767-7055.
Ideal gift for: Friends or co-workers who wear sweaters decorated with ribbons, stars or snowmen during the holiday season. Also a good gift for the locavores since you can point out how they were locally grown by an independent retailer in Chicago.
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