Festive house plants

Here are some of the TV gardeners' favourites with a few hints on how to keep them at their best.

Alan Titchmarsh: "My favourite Christmas plant is the poinsettia because they do quite well in warm rooms.

"You've got to buy poinsettias from somewhere where they've been kept warm. If you buy them from an outdoor stall or somewhere where they've been chilled, all their leaves drop off about a week after you bring them in, by which time the market stall has closed down and gone.

"Get them from a garden centre or nursery where they've been kept warm. Two or three poinsettias in a big bowl in the middle of the table look fab and can last right the way through to March."

Rachel de Thame, Gardeners' World presenter: "I'm really fond of the small pot-grown evergreen azaleas which are bought in their thousands over the Christmas period, particularly since the neutral to alkaline soil in my garden doesn't allow me to grow rhododendrons and azaleas outside. My favourites are the white-flowered forms of rhododendron simsii - the Indian azalea - which will be smothered in elegant blooms for many weeks.

"To keep them looking their best choose a cool but well-lit spot and make sure the compost doesn't dry out. However, azaleas dislike being kept inside for long periods of time, though you could try transferring them to a sheltered position in the garden once the weather warms up, making sure they are re-potted into a container filled with ericaceous compost. I prefer to think of them as short-term indoor pot plants and buy fresh ones to adorn the house each winter."

Chris Beardshaw, presenter of the Winter Flying Gardener on UKTV Style Gardens, Christmas Day at 7pm: "To fill the house at Christmas with the evocative and sensual fragrance of spring is a real joy and no plant or flower better achieves this than the scented narcissus. A host of varieties are available from the sweetly scented 'paper white' to the golden 'tete-a-tete' but my favourite is 'silver chimes', a beautifully floriferous and fragrant plant with a real appetite for flowering."

Dan Pearson, author and presenter of A Year At Home Farm: "Of all the amaryllis, so popular at Christmas, hippeastrum papillio is my favourite. Not always a reliable flowerer, but well worth the effort to try and get it to bloom. The elegant flowers are unlike any other hippeastrum, hung in pairs and striped with rich deep reds and brown.

"They have a 17th century feel that reminds me of Dutch still lives. I keep this plant pot bound and divide it infrequently, putting it in a hot spot in the garden for the summer where it will naturally become dormant in August after its foliage has replenished the bulb. Bringing it in again before the frost will kick it into action and, with any luck, it will be flowering by the end of December."

Garden Rivals presenter Penny Meadmore: "I would definitely go for a cyclamen. They give a really strong splash of colour with lots of flower to foliage and come in all those fantastic Christmas colours. To keep them flourishing throughout the festive season, keep them cool and in indirect light - so don't stick them in the window!"

Chris Collins, Blue Peter's resident garden expert: "Ardisia Crenata, grown as a pot plant in this country, has cracking red fruit and is a favourite in Japan as a New Year gift. It has waxy red leaves with a crinkly edge. The best thing about this plant is you're more likely to keep it for the year."

Sven Wombwell, presenter of Weed It and Reap on UKTV Style Gardens: "I love the Christmas cactus - zygocactus - because although its not quite as drought tolerant as the name suggests it can survive the busy Christmas period when you might forget to water it occasionally!

"Don't water it for six weeks after it has finished blooming, giving it time to rest, and when new growth appears repot with new topsoil and be careful to not put it anywhere where it will suffer from either a hot radiator or a cold draught."