WHAT DO YOU DO WITH YOUR POINSETTIAS NOW?
by Whit Gibbons
December 25, 2011
Each December I am asked questions about plants and animals associated with Christmas. Most focus on reindeer and mistletoe, but some are about poinsettias, America's most popular Christmas flower.
Q. Can poinsettias be kept alive and flowering after Christmas? If so, how? Are poinsettias native to the United States? Are they poisonous? Why are poinsettias associated with Christmas?
A. With proper care poinsettias can continue to be an impressive plant for several months. The best information about keeping your potted poinsettia plants healthy and vibrant comes from the Paul Ecke Ranch horticulturists in California (www.pauleckepoinsettias.com) where most of the world's poinsettias are bred and sold. They recommend that you keep the thermostat set between 68 and 70 degrees F and make sure your poinsettias never experience temperatures below 50.Other tips include keeping poinsettias away from fireplaces, heat vents, and areas where they might experience cold drafts. Water them whenever the dirt in the pot feels dry, but be careful not to overwater. The plant should receive about six hours of indirect sunlight each day; avoid setting the plant in direct sunlight. To keep your poinsettia thriving after the holiday season, use an all-purpose fertilizer. Do not fertilize the plant until the blooming season is over.
Poinsettias are said to have a bitter, unpleasant taste and may cause an upset stomach. But they are not toxic to humans or (as was once believed) to dogs and cats.
Poinsettias are similar to dogwoods in that the parts of the plant that are so attractive to us are not actually petals; they are modified leaves known as bracts, which are small, inconspicuous structures on most other flowering plants. The poinsettia flower is actually a small yellow cluster in the center of the bracts. Most of us are familiar with poinsettias as potted plants that are prevalent at Christmas. In their native Mexico, poinsettias are large shrubs that grow more than 10 feet tall. As with the commercial variety, in the wild these showy plants bloom during the winter.
Poinsettias belong to a large and economically important family of plants known as the Euphorbiaceae. The more than 7,000 species in the family are distributed throughout the continents and islands of the world, making it one of the largest and most widespread plant groups. Some are used as ornamental plants; others are the source of rubber, castor oil, and tapioca. Species in the family that are native to North America are mostly uninspiring small plants known as spurges.
Poinsettias first appeared in this country in the early 1800s. Joel Roberts Poinsett, of Charleston, S.C., the first U.S. ambassador to Mexico, brought several of these bright red ornamentals and their seeds to the United States, but controversy surrounds the exact manner in which the species persisted and became of commercial importance. Some horticulturists believe that Poinsett sent the seeds to a commercial nurseryman named Robert Carr, who was married to Ann Bartram Carr, whose grandfather John Bartram established Bartram's Botanic Garden in Philadelphia. William Bartram--traveler, naturalist, and artist--was the son of John Bartram and the uncle of Ann. Whether William Bartram ever saw a poinsettia, wild or potted, I have no idea. Anyway, Robert Carr reportedly "introduced the poinsettia into commercial trade from Bartram's Garden on June 6th, 1829." The occasion was an exhibition by the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society, which ultimately evolved into the long-standing Philadelphia Flower Show.
One explanation for the connection between poinsettias and the Christmas holidays is found in a Mexican legend. On Christmas Eve, so the story goes, a youngster (or a brother and sister in some versions) was prompted by an angel to pick a bouquet of weeds to take as an offering to the church. The child was ashamed to bring such a paltry gift but the angel insisted. In the manner of such stories, as the child laid the weeds before the nativity scene, they were transformed into brilliant red blooms that were the loveliest of all the offerings. Merry Christmas!
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