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Poinsettia the flower of the season

With the holiday seasons beginning, what flowering plant is more traditional than the beautiful holiday poinsettia?

The species poinsettia is from Mexico and the original plant is far removed from where it is today with modern-day cultivars of many different colors and shapes.

The poinsettia was originally brought back from the wilds of Mexico and introduced into this country by Joel Poinsett, the U.S. ambassador to Mexico in 1825.

Mr. Poinsett was an avid gardener who grew imported plants from Mexico in his Charleston greenhouse. The flowers dazzled other gardeners, and the red Christmas flower evolved going forward to our modern day potted poinsettia plants.

I remember as a kid going to Sunset Boulevard in West Los Angeles with my parents who purchased these cut flowers to decorate our home for the holidays. It was Paul Ecke Sr., world-renowned for introducing these cut flowers, who was selling them from his flower stand on the side of the road.

Mr. Ecke saw the potential of marketing this red flowering plant for the Christmas marketplace. He soon needed more space for growing and relocated to Encinitas in San Diego County, purchasing property where he built a series of greenhouses to propagate, grow, and market this red holiday jewel.

With hybridization ongoing, new varieties were developed in a vast array of assorted flower colors, shapes and styles.

When you look at the red flowering plants, the actual flower is found down in the center of the plant. The red bracts are modified leaves, not the flower itself.

The poinsettia has become an icon for Christmas and is produced in heated and light controlled hothouses throughout the world on a very large scale.

I recently had the good fortune to join a group of avid gardeners and pay a visit to the Weidner greenhouses in Leucadia for a behind-the-scene plant tour. This one nursery alone will produce over 50,000 top quality flowering potted poinsettias this year.

The preparations start in early March when cuttings are imported from the growing fields of the latest and greatest new cultivars. These cuttings are rooted as small plants and, as they mature, are cared for in their growing process up to mature flowering Christmas Poinsettia.

Poinsettia is a plant that blooms in short daylight conditions of 12 to 14 daylight hours which set the plant to go into its flowering cycle in December to meet the holiday market.

Besides the standard flowering poinsettia on your Christmas table or at the foyer of your home, many types are available like cascading baskets, 3 feet standard tree forms, huge rotund plant shapes, and petite miniature two-inch flowering plants.

Along with the many different types come names like Green Glow, Pink Marble, Fiesta Sunrise, Renaissance, Red Glitter, Winters Rose, Green Envy, Luv u Pink, and many more.

There are a few world poinsettia plant breeders, and we are fortunate to have one of those in San Diego. With meticulous cross-pollinating procedures, the breeder might end up with 10,000 seedlings which are gone through for an additional breeding program and finally they might end up with one choice plant to propagate for the future. The poinsettia that beautifies our homes has a long and colorful history that brings such joy and pleasure for the holidays

Tips for growing poinsettia:

Watering: keep moist but not wet

Place in indirect sunlight indoors and avoid drafts; don't place near a heater

Indoor temperature 65-75 degrees

Liquid fertilizer: feed monthly at half strength of label rate.

These plants can be grown outside, but wait until springtime to set them out in a dappled light area, not the full sun or they will sunburn, after being inside for the holidays. Eventually, you can transition them out to a sunny location out in the garden.

About 70 million plants are produced in the United States and Europe as well, so you can see the Christmas poinsettia is stable for the holiday floral trade.

Thank you Mr. Poinsett for bringing this cheery flowering plant into our homes and also thank you to Mr. Ecke for bringing the poinsettia to San Diego and for all the happiness that poinsettia brings to the season.

Watch for my monthly column, Our Garden Gate, debuting in next week's Village News, Dec. 13.

Roger Boddaert, The Tree Man of Fallbrook, can be reached for tree consultations and landscape designs by appointment at (760) 728-4297.

 

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