No green thumb is required to help gift plants last a long time. Here are a few general tips for their care.

- Give them bright light, but not direct sunlight

- Give them cool temperatures (65 to 75 degrees during the day; lower at night)

- Keep them out of drafts

- Keep soil moist but not soggy

- Remove faded blooms

For more specific care directions, see below.

The Christmas cactus and Thanksgiving cactus require cool temperatures in the fall to develop buds and give the desired bloom. These plants require as much water as any other houseplant.After the plant stops blooming, keep it in a cool, sunny window. In summer, put it outside in light shade and leave it there as long as possible into the fall. If you must bring it inside before Oct. 1, leave it in a cool, light area of the basement.Bring it to a sunny window as soon as buds start to show. If buds start to drop, it may be an indication of one of three things: the plant may need repotting, the temperature may be too high, or the light intensity too low. These plants seldom flower well at temperatures above 70 degrees.

The key to a long-lasting cyclamen is cool temperature. If the night temperature is much above 50 degrees, the leaves will turn yellow and the buds will die. If, in addition, the light is poor, the leaves will die quickly.Large amounts of sunshine and cool temperatures are essential to the life of a cyclamen.Water the plant as soon as the soil is dry to the touch on top. Avoid getting water in the crown of the plant. Given proper care, a cyclamen should bloom from now until March.After the plants stop blooming, gradually reduce the amount of water and allow the plant to dry. Remove the corm from the soil and store it in sand, peat moss or vermiculite to keep it from drying out. Store the corm in the basement at 50 degrees.In June, repot it in a new soil mixture of one part peat moss, one part garden soil and one part sand. Be certain to keep the upper half of the corm above the soil surface to help prevent rotting. Start watering the plant.In about three weeks, move the plant out to the garden to a shady place. Fertilize the cyclamen about twice a month with a solution of a quarter teaspoon of general garden fertilizer to a quart of water.Before frost, bring the cyclamen back indoors to a cool, sunny window. The blooms will not be so large as the first year, but there should be as many. Pull the leaves back and look down in the middle of the plant to see them starting out.

Considerable care must be given if poinsettia plants are to remain in top condition for extended periods of time.Place plants in a warm sunny window and apply ample water to prevent the soil from drying. Temperatures below 60 degrees or above 75 degrees have adverse effects on poinsettias, which are sensitive to sudden changes in temperature, improper watering and low light intensities.Many modern cultivars retain their colorful bracts for weeks and may require application of a complete soluble fertilizer.The plants can be carried over a second year by drying them off in March and then storing them in a cool, well ventilated place until May.Keep them actively growing until March; then gradually reduce the water supply. Do not let them dry out in storage.In May, cut them back to 3- to 5-inches high, and start them back into growth by starting to water them and moving them back into a warm, sunny window. As soon as the temperature stays above 60 degrees at night, move them outside into light shade. Pinch back each shoot once during the summer to get a well-shaped plant.When cool nights start in late August, bring your plants inside to a warm, sunny window. Day temperatures should be 70 to 75 degrees and night temperatures should be no higher than 60 to 62 degrees. Plants should be fertilized every seven to 10 days with a solution made by dissolving a half-teaspoon of a complete soluble fertilizer in one quart of warm water.Poinsettias form flower buds through the long nights. If plants are to flower for Christmas, they must be kept in an unlit room at night. The same effect can be made by covering plants with light-tight boxes between 5 and 8 p.m. from Oct. 1 to Thanksgiving. After this period, flower buds will be well formed and plants will suffer no adverse effect from light during this period.

A less common Christmas plant is the kalanchoe, another photo-responder. To get satisfactory growth in the home, it must have sunlight.The plant is difficult to flower a second year for this reason. It’s better to root cuttings in moist sand and carry these over. The parent plant usually gets quite spindly after several months in the poor light of the home.Give the kalanchoe the same treatment as the poinsettia. It does not, however, need to be cut back in the spring.