 | Trees & Lights
They do like Christmas trees at Wickman's. This photo is actually from 2005. We just thought you might like it.
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 | All Kinds of Goodies
This year it's a corner chockful of ducks, rabbits, pots, plants, lamps, butterflies, stars, and much, much more, all around the Christmas Tree.
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 | Redder Than Red
We don't know the official variety name on this poinsettia and we're too busy getting ready for Christmas to track it down. We just think of it as a good old-fashioned BRIGHT RED poinsettia. Yee-ha!
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 | A Muted Red
We think this poinsettia might be "Novia Red" or "Mars Red." Varietal differences are important to growers but not so much to ordinary folk, who normally buy for the eye.
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 | A Favorite
We're going to bet that this poinsettia is Monet Twilight. It's a favorite of many and please include us. We love it. We also like the common description of its coloring: "cream with raspberry flecks."
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 | Contrast
With our flash, the uppermost flowers of the light poinsettia are a bit washed out, but the smaller leaves of cream with the pink blush show the true colors of the variety called Puebla. We know, the "flowers" aren't really flowers, they're bracts, modified leaves that encircle the true flowers. In poinsettias, the true flowers are eensy-bitsy, you might say.
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 | Brimful
We'd never seen a poinsettia with a prettier shape or neater blossoms that this one. We think it's Orion Red and we loved the way it was overflowing its container.
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 | A Winter Rose
It's said about this unique poinsettia that people either love it or hate it. To be sure, it's anything but traditional. Its bracts are curved inward and more globular than flat, like other poinsettias. Their rose-like character accounts for the variety name--Winter Rose.
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 | White Blooms
In the poinsettia world, it gets no whiter than the Whitestar.
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 | A Burgundy Poinsettia
Among the more unusual new poinsettia hybrids is this prize with burgundy colors. It's name? "Cortez Burgundy."
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 | A Jester
Poinsettias with pink and white marbeling always have "Marble" in the variety name. This one is Jester Marble. Interesting, no?
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 | Silverstar Marble
Silverstar Marble is another pink 'n white beauty, with creamy-edged pink leaves and variegated foliage.
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 | A Green Poinsettia?
We're not sure what causes it, but the bracts of this poinsettia are a very pale green. There is a green variety called "Limelight," but this isn't it. We understand that some poinsettias go through a green phase while growing. In any event, we like it.
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 | Christmas Cactuses, er, Cacti
Wow. Look at these. Have you ever? Christmas cacti have so many botanical names we won't get into it, but we can tell you that they're members of the Zygocactus family and are really epiphytes, plants that in their native habitat grow on other plants but are not parasitic. They do so well in containers (if given sufficient water and protected from drafts) that they're sometimes passed down from generation to generation. So much for that. What really matters is that modern hybridizers are, as you can see, producing breathtaking colors.
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 | Something Special
We've no idea of the varietal name for this prize. We just loved its subtle blend of pale pink, white, and salmon.
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 | Orchids, Too
Wickman's also grows some gorgeous orchids.
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 | Cyclamen
Just as we were leaving Wickman's greenhouse, we noticed this remarkable little planting of cyclamen. A nice touch, no?
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 | Lisa
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 | A Tree With a Story
The trees Wickman's was selling this Christmas were all Fraser's Firs (A. Fraseri). So said nursery manager Nikki Petitt. We did some reading and learned that Fraser's Firs are outstanding choices for Christmas trees for their fragrance, neat and attractive appearance, and ability to keep their soft needles longer. Ironically, Fraser's Firs also have a very limited native range in the southern Appalachian Mountains and their native survival is seriously threatened by acid rain and a sucking insect called the Wooly Adelgid. For this reason, the tree's commercial planting as a Christmas and ornamental tree may save it from extinction.
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