Christmas Plants – done sustainably

It's simply part of a traditional Christmas celebration, the Christmas tree. But isn't it totally bad for the environment? Cutting down a tree for ten days of decoration? "That's actually a difficult question," says Dr Gregor Aas, Head of the Ecological Botanical Garden (ÖBG) at the University of Bayreuth. You can't make a blanket statement, he says, because it depends on various factors.

"The most important question is about its procurement", explains the expert from the University of Bayreuth. Only rarely are these firs felled in the forest, where they might then be grown in sustainable forestry. Mostly, they come from Christmas tree plantations. "But there are big differences here, too," Aas emphasises. "In our area, there are many part-time farmers who have established Christmas tree plantations on meadows or fields. This is certainly more sustainable than leaving the land fallow or growing maize. Therefore, when buying Christmas trees, please pay attention to regional sourcing."

A plastic tree is only an alternative if it is used for several years and then recycled. "If you spend a lot of your Christmas with family, you should ask yourself whether it is really necessary to have a tree in your home.

Aas is critical of buying trees in pots and then planting them out: "It doesn't do the trees any good if they stand indoors for a fortnight. The dry and warm air does them massive damage." However, Georg Aas can imagine planting a tree in the garden and then decorating it there over and over again during the Christmas season.

30 million Christmas trees are put up in Germany every year. According to the Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland, the same number of poinsettias (Euphorbia pulcherrima) are sold in Germany each year - most of which are imported from Africa. "The problem with poinsettias is that they are produced as an absolutely disposable product," Aas says. But that doesn't have to be the case. "In fact, you can cultivate poinsettias." To do this, the poinsettias simply need to be re-potted after Christmas. "A larger pot, fresh soil, and then leave them indoors until it is frost-free outside," explains Aas. After that, the poinsettias can also go out onto the balcony or into the garden. "Before it gets really cold again, they will need to come indoors and you'll have a poinsettia one again without having to buy one."

Gregor Aas recommends something similar for the popular Amaryllis plants (Hippeastrum). "These bulbous plants are usually sold in very small pots with very little soil," he says. Again, they need to be re-potted. "When the amaryllis has faded, it can be put in a slightly larger pot and left outside for the summer. From August onwards, however, it should no longer be watered." The plant, which originates from South America, must then be allowed to dry out properly so that it will flower again for Christmas. From mid-November, the amaryllis can be watered again. "After that, things progress very quickly and, with a bit of luck, the amaryllis will flower again. As a rule, new bulbs form, so that in the course of time you will have several plants."