On Dec. 21, Alicia Boor, the agriculture and natural resources agent for the Cottonwood Extension Service, presented illustrations, histories and stories of the plants and flowers that we now associate with Christmas to eight members and one guest, Catherine Shippen, of Great Bend Garden Club.
The bringing of certain plant greens into homes began around the world during very early times. They represented the hope that they could survive the darkness and cold of winter and bloom again in the spring. Some even bloomed around the Christmas season and over the ages they have become Christmas décor because of ancient stories of their use and fables that tell of religious miracles involving the blooming of the plants.
The Christmas cactus is one of these plants and can be identified by the shape of its leaves. As with other succulents, they need a well-lighted space out of direct sunlight and watered only when the soil is dry about an inch down. And it blooms at Christmas time.
The holly vines and berries were first used as a religious symbol in Roman times when they was associated with the winter solstice celebration of Saturnalia, honoring the agricultural god Saturn and because of the timing many of their practices were incorporated into the Christian Christmas.
The mistletoe, although the early meanings of the ancient words making up its name have an unpleasant connotation, it needed the help of tree bark to reproduce itself and the fact of that situation resulted in the mistletoe becoming connected with restoration of life which in important to the Christian Christmas celebration.
The poinsettia was first propagated in Mexico by the Aztecs and has made its way into the American Christmas season because of its beautiful red and green color. It is a difficult plant to keep alive for a second season.
The evergreen Christmas tree tradition came from Germany where it was a symbol of immortality.
The next meeting of Garden Club will be on Jan. 18 at 10 a.m. with Carol Woodmansee giving the program and Sharon East furnishing refreshments. Visitors are welcome.
