Holiday Houseplants for a White Christmas

Some of the largest, loveliest holiday plants we’ve ever grown have been the traditional White varieties of Poinsettia. They tend to have strong, uniform habits, plus sizeable, clean bract structures and showy overall presentations. This year, you can also opt for Princettia® White, offering a fresh, cool, and modern look with its extremely pure white bracts that contrast stunningly with its deep, dark green foliage. Princettia® series plants are uniquely smaller than traditional varieties, which also makes them very versatile. To keep your white poinsettias looking great well into winter, follow our poinsettia pointers and care tips.

A member of the Daffodil (Narcissus) family, Paperwhites are beautifully fresh, fragrant bulbs that are unique in that they’re meant to be grown indoors, and forced to bloom indoors, for the holiday season. Paperwhites already potted and in bloom are available in our Holiday Houseplants department, while supplies last. If you’d like to grow your own, start with dormant bulbs. Early November, choose a pot without drainage holes, fill it with gravel, and rest your newly purchased bulb right on top. Fill the pot with water to the bottom of bulb. Within a week or so, roots and shoots will appear, followed by true white blooms for Christmas. See the process in our growing Paperwhites bulbs video.

Like Paperwhite, Amaryllis is a bulb you can find potted up and in bloom in our Holiday Houseplants department, while supplies last. Only this bulb is much bigger. You can also plant one indoors, yourself, in early November to bloom for Christmas. With it large size and a ton of stored energy, an Amaryllis bulb blooms with huge leaves and flowers and, in addition to the commonly requested red, it’s also available in a bold, fresh white for Christmas! This bulb is also easy to grow and truly requires the littlest of effort. Simply plant it in pebbles, if you plan to grow it just this year for Christmas. To keep it year after year, plant it “half in, half out” in potting soil. Need more guidance? View the process of caring for Amaryllis bulbs.

Also known as Baby Rubber Plant, peperomia is a genus of tropical plants with more than 1,000 known species. All have thick, fleshy leaves that contribute to drought tolerance and vigor. ‘Frost’ is a compact, low-growing houseplant variety featuring silver, iridescent, heart-shaped leaves that develop with an attractive mounding habit. And even though it’s grown for foliage rather than flowers, its silvery light coloring goes fantastically well with any white-blooming theme you’re looking to create for the holidays.

Small citrus plants and dwarf citrus trees are great options for Northeast Ohioans because they grow well indoors in winter and outdoors in the summer. They also bloom somewhat continuously throughout the year with white to cream clusters of the most refreshing, invigorating, sweetly citrus perfume. Look for Key Limequat and Meyer Lemon citrus plants in one-gallon pot sizes, which make great options for getting started during the holiday season. Be sure to display your plant in a sunny window, and follow our pro tips for growing and caring for white-blooming citrus plants.

Christmas Cacti are unique, flowering succulents that are beloved for their longevity. While common to find blooming in shades of pink to red, some lesser-known varieties actually produce bright white to faintly blushed tubular blooms. In order to bloom naturally each Thanksgiving to Christmas, these plants require a cold treatment each fall that will trigger the plant to set buds. Learn more about caring for Christmas Cactus year round, and getting it to rebloom for the holiday season, in our gardening guide plus video tips.

Ferns are a classic shade plant family with numerous houseplant varieties. ‘Silver Lace’ is a small specimen fern that displays slender, upright green fronds with silvery-white variegations at the center, creating a crisp, festive contrast. Grow in bright to medium, indirect lighting from an eastern or northern exposure window, spray mist regularly, and keep soil evenly moist to slightly dry.

Elegant Phalaenopsis orchids, also known as Moth Orchids, make for an enchanting holiday centerpiece with their long stems, some of which can be trained to produce a weeping, waterfall display of exceptionally large, exotic blooms with clean white petals and just a touch of gold at the center. These plants bloom naturally during winter and for long periods of time (like 60, 90, even 120 days!) before resting and reblooming. Phalaenopsis White is a variety that’s generally available year round at Petitti’s, and most certainly during the holiday season for achieving that fresh flush of flowers for a white Christmas! Check out our video on care and getting your orchid to rebloom.

Frosty Ferns are often viewed as a holiday houseplant due to their wintry name, but let it be known that these plants aren’t technically ferns at all. This plant is actually an ally to ferns, meaning that though it isn’t technically a fern, it behaves like one and reproduces via spores. The ‘Frosty’ Fern gets its name from the distinctive white color of its new growth, which gives its tips a frosted appearance for Christmas. Decorated Frosty Ferns are available every holiday season for easy gifting while supplies last, each of which includes the plant plus a festive adornment that is often a white dove, red cardinal, or small “Merry Christmas” sign.

These easy-breezy, classic beauties are among the few “low-light” plants that flower, blooming with fresh, unique white spathe flowers over a bushy, glossy green foliage. Flowers last for about month, perfect for spanning the holiday season. Peace Lilies also combine very well in pots with other houseplants, especially in gift and holiday planters. Look for traditional Peace Lily to be readily available in various sizes including 4”, 6”, 8”, and 10” pot sizes. The unique variety ‘Domino’ is offered in limited quantities, a variegated form displaying white splashes on each leaf in addition to the white spathe flowers.

The ‘White Splash’ variety of Polka Dot Plant (Hypoestes) is an adorably petite, spotted, indoor foliage plant that makes for a popular option each holiday season due to its white-freckled leaves and dark green foliage, plus its “filler” style habit in containers. ‘White Splash’ grows well in medium light all the way to bright, indirect lighting roughly 5–6 feet from a sunny window. Soil should be kept evenly moist to slightly dry. Supply extra humidity by setting on a shallow tray of moistened pebbles.

Florist Cyclamens are gorgeous houseplants that are easy to grow indoors from fall through spring. Their beautiful blooms are available in an array of colors like purple, pink, and red, but they also come in varieties of the freshest winter white. The plant springs forth from a tuber that produces green foliage with silver variegation and blooms with nodding flowers featuring upturned petals that add to the attraction. Some are even fragrant!

Pothos is a small family foliage plants that they are easy to care for, excellent air purifiers, and trailing growers perfect for hanging baskets. ‘Silver’ Pothos is a special variety offering dark green leaves with silvery markings, an excellent accent plant for your silver bells and holiday trimmings!