Common Myrtle to Take Us Into the New Year

Once the season of jewel tones and more-is-more decorating has passed, we clean up to enter into a new year in which most of us yearn to start out with fresh and clean looks in our homes. 

The time for rich red roses will hit next month. The time for planting pastel annuals will come in May, provided the weather cooperates. But in January, clean and simple, green and bright, clean and clean-lined… those descriptors seem to be the ones we all want associated with our homes. The rich visual diet we savor in December, were we to maintain it all year, would make us uncomfortably full. We need to punctuate the year with times that are simpler, and sights that put our minds on thoughts of “fresh”, “clean”, and “new”.

So, once you have cleared your countertops and your mind, breathe in… and then see if there is a plant—nothing too big or bold—that will add life to your indoor spaces. You might like tried-and-true Pothos or Philodendron plants. You might like certain Cacti. Or you might choose the classic Common Myrtle, which has both ancient and present-day associations with rebirth, youth, and love.

Common Myrtle can be grown indoors as a tiny bonsai which you can grow into either a shrub or tree form. At this time of year, this would be the most likely way you would welcome it into your home, tending it as a houseplant until the warm weather arrives. Certainly, if you live in a spot that stays balmy year-round, the selection of Common Myrtle that you find may be something quite a bit larger—a more sizable shrub, ready for planting in the garden. Either way, based on both looks and lore, this plant serves as a lovely January plant… a plant that will start out with simple foliage in a perfect green, just in time for your/our much-needed “freshen-up” period.

As time goes on, your green-only, less-is-more plant will erupt in pretty white blooms with long stamens that make them look like fancy pom-poms. These blooms are bright, delicate, and visible on a green backdrop created by petite foliage. Blooms will gradually be replaced with berries, dark and dramatic. And your simple, “start-the-New-Year-fresh” plant will get a little fancier, stepping up to compete with the spring blooms that have so much color. But for now…, peaceful, clean, fresh, simple… Common Myrtle will be just right for your New Year’s needs.

Knowing that there are almost always precautions to be taken to protect beloved pets, you won’t be surprised that Common Myrtle should not be within reach of four-legged friends who sometimes sample what they should not. But the placement of this plant, out of the way of the pets we love, is right in line with what Common Myrtle itself needs. When it is not “summering outdoors”, Common Myrtle needs a bright and warm window (often, these are well out-of-reach of pets) for in-home growing. 

Unable to survive a deep freeze, Common Myrtle becomes a “snowbird” of sorts, needing to travel indoors when the temperature dips and living happily inside the home until the warm weather returns. Hence, growing it in a good pot with a well-draining loamy mix can permit the back-and-forth trips, patio to indoor display table, your plant will want to take to continue to grow and thrive all year, year upon year.

So, if you have greeted the new year by paring down, and if your holiday decorations have been packed away to allow for a January “re-fresh”, then stay focused on that simplicity and find a simple yet meaningful plant to add the touch of greenery and life that should always be part of your home environment. Common Myrtle… not so “common” at all, looking lovely and symbolizing love… I think that’s a good choice.