Christmas Plants Compared: Amaryllis, Christmas Roses and Cyclamen — Where's Cheapest
The classic Christmas plants, compared across UK nurseries: which ones you can buy now, where the same plant costs half as much, and what we couldn't find enough of to compare.
Every December the same handful of plants turns up on windowsills and doorsteps: a fat amaryllis bulb pushing up a flower stalk, a Christmas rose by the front door, a pot of cyclamen, a poinsettia from the supermarket. Most of them get bought in a hurry, a week before Christmas, wherever happens to be nearest. That is exactly when you pay the most.
So we looked now, in early November, while there's still time to plant a bulb and let it flower for the day. Every price below is one a nursery was showing when we checked on 8 November 2026. Prices move, so each plant links to its live page, which shows today's price, not ours.
Amaryllis: the same bulb, half the price
Amaryllis (botanically Hippeastrum) is the easiest Christmas flower there is. Pot the bulb with its shoulders above the compost, water sparingly, give it a bright windowsill, and in six to ten weeks you get those enormous trumpet flowers. Plant in early to mid November and you have a fair chance of flowers around Christmas; a warm room speeds it up.
The price spread on identical bulbs is the biggest of anything in this post:
- Amaryllis 'Red Lion', the classic scarlet: £9.50 at Jacques Amand International, against £18.99 at both Crocus and Primrose.
- Hippeastrum 'Gervase', streaked red and white: £9.50 at Jacques Amand International, £17.99 at Crocus and Primrose.
- Amaryllis 'Minerva', red with a white star: £8.33 at Farmer Gracy, £11.99 at YouGarden and Gardening Direct.
- Amaryllis 'Lemon Star', creamy yellow: £10.43 at Farmer Gracy, £11.99 at YouGarden and Gardening Direct.
- Amaryllis 'Dancing Queen', a frilly double: £11.99 at YouGarden and Gardening Direct, £12.99 at Thompson & Morgan.
The bulb size matters more than the shop. Bigger bulbs give more flower stalks, and some listings quote a size (in centimetres round the bulb) while others don't. Where they do, compare like with like. Delivery adds to all of these, so if you are buying three or four, buying them from one nursery usually beats chasing the cheapest of each.
Christmas rose: buy it in flower, or nearly
The Christmas rose, Helleborus niger, is the white hellebore that flowers in deep winter, sometimes by Christmas and more often in January. It is a proper garden plant, not a throwaway: it wants a shady, sheltered spot in soil that doesn't dry out, and it will come back for years.
- Christmas rose: £7.50 at Claire Austin Hardy Plants, £9.99 at Crocus (9cm pot), £12.99 at Carbeth Plants (9cm pot). Crocus also had a 2-litre plant at £18.99.
For a doorstep pot at Christmas, the bigger plant is the one that will actually be in bud. A small pot planted now is better value if you're happy to wait for next winter's show. We've written more about the wider hellebore family, and why prices vary so much, in our hellebore guide.
Cyclamen: indoor or out, know which you're buying
Two very different plants share the name. The big-flowered florist's cyclamen sold for the house at Christmas (Cyclamen persicum types) is tender and likes a cool room, not a warm one. The small hardy cyclamen (Cyclamen coum and C. hederifolium) are garden plants that flower in winter and autumn under trees and shrubs.
We don't have enough live listings of indoor cyclamen to compare them fairly this week: only one nursery was showing each of the varieties we track. The hardy kind is better covered:
- Cyclamen coum 'Album', white, flowering January to March: £9.50 at Burncoose Nurseries, £9.99 at Crocus and Primrose (9cm pots).
Poinsettia and Christmas cactus: what we couldn't compare
We'd like to tell you where poinsettias are cheapest, but none of the nurseries we track was listing one when we checked, and the same goes for Christmas cactus. Most of them are sold in supermarkets and garden centres rather than online, because they hate the cold of a delivery van. If you buy a poinsettia this year, two things matter more than price: it shouldn't have been standing outside the shop or by the door, and it should go home wrapped. A chilled poinsettia drops its leaves within days. When nurseries we track start listing them, they'll appear on ComparePlants automatically.
Buying early pays
The pattern we see every year is the one you'd expect: the cheapest amaryllis bulbs sell out first, and by mid December what's left is the expensive end. If you want a bulb in flower for Christmas Day, pot it up in the next week or two. If you'd like to see today's prices for any of the plants above, each link goes to its live comparison page on ComparePlants.
For more winter planting, see what to plant in November.