Garden Group 2 Report
The Christmas meeting of Garden Group 2 was held on December
1st. Members were
greeted
with mulled wine and chocolates before listening to a talk on the folklore
surrounding
Christmas plants.
We learned that holly and ivy were brought indoors in
pre-Christian times to ward off evil spirits.
Eventually holly came to represent the crown of thorns Jesus wore at his
crucifixion and ivy, with
its spiralling growth habit, was a sign of Jesus
ascending into heaven. During the reign
of Oliver
Cromwell, when the festivities of Christmas were banned, ‘holy’
boughs (or holly boughs) were
used in the house for decorations.
Poinsettia plants, which are now such an integral part of
the Christmas scene, were not produced
on a mass scale until the early
1990’s. The plant is native to Mexico and, in
its natural state, has
a leggy, rather weedy habit. It was the Ecke family of California who cultivated the attractive,
bushy plant we know today.
The Christmas cactus, we found, is not a true cactus
although it looks like one. In certain
hot
countries, such as South America, where
pine and fir trees do not grow, the Christmas cactus is
decorated like a
Christmas tree although with fresh flowers rather than baubles. We were told
that the plant should be pruned
after flowering and kept in the dark for 14 hours each day during
October to
produce the flowers in time for Christmas.
The last of our Christmas plants was mistletoe. As we already knew this is a parasitic plant
living
on and feeding from certain trees such as oak, apple, pine and
poplar. The custom of kissing under
the
mistletoe originated in Scandinavia. Mistletoe represented peace and duellers
finding themselves
fighting beneath the plant laid down their arms and called a
truce until the next day. Traditionally,
mistletoe is said to have magical properties and is still popular in parts of Europe for treating
circulatory and respiratory problems.
The meeting ended with tea served with mince pies and
stolen.
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