Christmas in Germany

For many people Christmas wouldn't be complete without a decorated tree and blooming poinsettias.

German settlers are credited with bringing the Christmas tree to the United States.

Nurenberg/Bavaria- city, in Germany has an oldest market stalls, called Chriskindlesmarket, Nuremberg is regarded as Europe`s oldest Christmas city. It's a medieval city with lot of ancient history.

The streets leading from the station to the market are attractively decorated with white poles bearing Christmas symbols, garlands of fir and pretty lights. At the centre of the market square is a crib, its wooden figures telling the Christmas story. Every visitor to the Christkindlesmarket enjoys a pause to look at it. The market stalls are decorated with branches of fir and lit by lanterns.

This pre-Christmas market can be traced back to the middle of the 16th Century. There is a 19 cm oval wooden box painted with flowers in the German National Museum which shows market scenes. Almost all the Nurenberg's craftsmen of the city represent themselves in the town of stalls.

The greater part of the market will be toys, arts and crafts articles, Christmas-tree decoration, Christmas cribs and candles and christmas flowers.

People started hanging trees upside-down from ceilings at Christmas in central Europe to symbolize Christianity. The first decorated tree was at Riga, Latvia, in 1510, and Martin Luther reportedly decorated a small tree with candles to show children how stars twinkled in darkness.

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Floriculture is the cultivation of ornamental and flowering plants. The U.S. floral industry engages in the production and sale of floriculture crops on a commercial scale. Nursery crops are woody perennial plants, such as ornamental trees, shrubs, and vines, that are primarily used for landscaping. Together, floriculture and nursery crops are known as the green industry.

Floriculture crops

Floriculture crops include bedding plants, flowering plants, foliage plants, cut cultivated greens, and cut flowers. As distinguished from nursery crops, floriculture crops are generally herbaceous. Bedding and garden plants consist of young flowering plants (annuals and perennials) and vegetable plants. They are grown in cell packs, in pots, or in hanging baskets, usually inside a controlled environment, and sold largely for gardens and landscaping. Geraniums, impatiens, and petunias are the best-selling bedding plants. Chrysanthemums are the major perennial garden plant in the United States.

Flowering plants are largely sold in pots for indoor use. The major flowering plants are poinsettias, orchids, florist chrysanthemums, and finished florist azaleas. Foliage plants are also sold in pots and hanging baskets for indoor and patio use, including larger specimens for office, hotel, and restaurant interiors.

Sales are normally highest from February through May and in the fall. Sales of cut flowers peak during holidays such as Valentine's Day and Mother's Day. Poinsettia plants are sold mostly from Thanksgiving to Christmas.

The majority of flowering and foliage plants are propagated from cuttings of plant parts such as stems, roots, and shoots. For bedding plants, propagation methods include conventional seeds, high-germination seeds, and plugs (seedlings).

Nursery crops

Nursery crops are woody perennial plants that are usually field-grown in containers or in-ground. The Census of Agriculture defines nursery crops as ornamental trees and shrubs, fruit and nut trees (for noncommercial use), vines, and ground covers.

They are primarily used for landscaping, not for producing edible products on a commercial scale. Trees and shrubs are classified as deciduous, evergreen, or nursery stock. Deciduous includes shade, flowering, ornamental, fruit, and nut trees and shrubs. Evergreen includes broadleaf and coniferous trees, including Christmas trees.

They are primarily used for landscaping, not for producing edible products on a commercial scale. Trees and shrubs are classified as deciduous, evergreen, or nursery stock. Deciduous includes shade, flowering, ornamental, fruit, and nut trees and shrubs. Evergreen includes broadleaf and coniferous trees, including Christmas trees.

Thus, sales of most nursery crops, except Christmas trees, are more local or regional than floriculture crops, which are less costly to ship to farther markets.

The lack of natural vegetation in the arid Southwest, planting trees on retired cropland, and reforestation for logging and after wildfires contribute to the 80-percent share of U.S. nursery sales by growers in the West and South.