Add Color To Your Home With This Winter-Flowering Plant

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Missing color in the corners of your home this winter? There's a compact succulent known for its showy flowers in vivid red, orange, yellow, pink, and white that could help. It's popular because it flowers in winter (and spring) when most other plants go dormant. When cared for correctly and given the right amount of light at the right time, this pretty houseplant can bloom for six or more weeks during the chilly season. If you haven't guessed already, we're talking about florist kalanchoe (Kalanchoe blossfeldiana), a herbaceous perennial native to Madagascar. The plant boasts thick, dark green, scallop-edged leaves and tiny blooms that form large umbels (or clusters).

However, florist kalanchoe is intolerant of frost and needs to be grown inside when outdoor temperatures drop below 45 degrees Fahrenheit. Unsurprisingly, it's valued as an easy-to-grow houseplant for cooler climes — not least because it prefers the bright, indirect light to partial sun common indoors. Too much direct sunlight may cause leaf scorch. While it's true that this drought-tolerant houseplant requires little upkeep to maintain its evergreen foliage, it does have some quirks. If you want this flower to grow beautifully indoors during winter and, indeed, give you lots of colorful blooms, you'll need to stick to a very particular lighting schedule. If you take this houseplant outdoors in the warmer months, grow it in a container so that it's easy to bring indoors when needed.

Knowing how to grow and take care of kalanchoe is vital if you want it to flower through winter indoors. In order to bloom, this houseplant needs six to eight hours of bright, indirect light and 14 hours of complete darkness each day for at least six weeks during fall and winter. During this time, you'll also need to maintain nighttime temperatures of 60 degrees Fahrenheit and daytime temperatures of 70 degrees Fahrenheit. If the temperature — day or night — isn't just right, or the plant is exposed to light during the hours it requires darkness, it might wait to put out flowers. The solution? Place your florist kalanchoe under LED grow lights for eight to 12 hours a day.

To help this colorful succulent thrive indoors in winter, plant it in a well-draining potting mix formulated for succulents to help. We like Rosy Soil Cactus and Succulent Organic Potting Mix for House Plants, but there are lots of options on the market. Excess moisture is an enemy of this plant, so water it less often during this period of slower growth — and when trying to make it bloom. If you do get your florist kalanchoe to flower, or it flowered earlier in the year, deadheading will encourage the plant to produce more. Pinch back the plant's stems to maintain a rounded shape. Finally, remember to protect your florist kalanchoe from the cold, even indoors. Make sure the plant isn't pressed up against frosty windows, and situate it away from extreme heat sources, like furnace vents, or cold drafts.