If you live in the Lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas or in one of the few places in the country where the climate is sunny and moderate all year round, you are among the fortunate who can grow and enjoy poinsettias in the garden.
Protected from the severe wind and given adequate water and fertilizer, plants will attain 5′, 10′, or even 12′ feet, according to how they are pruned.
Poinsettia: Tropical Plant
Poinsettia is a tropical plant brought to this country about 100 years ago by Joel Robert Poinsett, the first United States minister plenipotentiary to Mexico.
A Philadelphia nurseryman obtained a cutting from Mr. Poinsett and gave the plant the name poinsettia.
Grown As A Pot Plant
The poinsettia is grown as a pot plant in colder parts of the country. Perhaps you will receive a gift plant this Christmas, and when you do, you will undoubtedly wonder if you can bring it into bloom again.
If you take certain precautions, you can.
When the blooms fade, set the plant indoors where the temperature will remain above freezing and below 60° degrees Fahrenheit.
Here’s what you need to do:
- Water sparingly and allow to rest until spring.
- It will lose its leaves and look dead, but when spring comes, repot using a container that is at least one size larger.
- Use soil containing sand, good garden loam, and a few tablespoons of well-rotted manure.
- Next, place the plant in a sunny window and keep it well-watered.
- Cut the stems back several inches to remove the dead tips, encourage branching, and make the new growth sturdy.
Your newly potted poinsettia will rapidly grow as it already has established roots.
Watering And Temperature Needs During Warm Weather
When warm weather arrives, sink the pot in the garden to within 1″ inch of the rim, and do not plant it in the open ground as it will not tolerate repotting.
When cold weather again sets in, without losing all its leaves.
During this time, give plenty of water, provided the soil is not kept soggy.
Bring plants indoors when temperatures are near 60° degrees Fahrenheit in the fall.
If it gets colder than this, plants will drop their leaves.
Sunny Window For Pointessia
Give your poinsettia a sunny window, but at night be sure it has complete darkness and no artificial light, even for a few minutes.
Nights should be 12 hours long until the color of the bracts.
If necessary, create an artificial 12-hour night by moving your plant from the window to a dark place.
Short, cool days and long, cool nights are the secrets to the coloring process of this plant.
Cuttings Of New Poinsettia Plants
If you wish, you can make new plants from cuttings.
Here’s what you need to do:
- First, cut a piece of the firm stem near your old plant’s base and discard the tip.
- Place in a 4″-inch pot in a mixture of peat moss and sand, with perhaps a little sphagnum moss.
- Firm soil around cutting and carefully set the pot in good light but not in the sun and water each day.
When the cutting shows several inches of growth, transfer it to a pot, one size larger, using the same soil mixture and exercising care not to disturb the delicate roots.
The time to take cuttings is between July and the middle of August. When taken later, cuttings probably will not flower by Christmas.
Propagation Method
If you live where poinsettias may be grown outdoors, propagation methods are different. In semi-tropical regions, take cuttings in early winter, usually at the time of predicted severe weather.
Do the following steps:
- Cut into 12”-inch lengths and plant 2/3 below and 1/3 above the ground.
- Before planting, it is advisable to lay them in the shade to dry for a week.
- Then place where they are to grow in rich, neutral, well-drained soil.
Although poinsettias like plenty of water, they do not like to be soggy.
Pruning Poinsettias
By early spring, when cuttings are at least 3′ feet tall, prune between March 1 and April 15 to within 5″ inches or 1′ foot of the ground.
Prune again in June or July to 3′ feet or even lower, and by September 1, pinch out the tips of each branch.
This will induce more flowers and keep plants low, so winds will not damage them as much at blooming times.
Varieties Of Poinsettias
There are wide varieties of poinsettias available. Paul Ecke of Encinitas, California, has developed, by sport, the following named varieties:
- Hollywood—large, single, red, platter-shaped flower, rather stiff
- St. Louis—single, red, stands up better than any other variety when properly conditioned.
- Ecke White—single, not truly white, slightly cream colored, good pot subject
- Double Henrietta Ecke—double, red, excellent for outdoor planting in southern areas
- Henrietta Ecke Supreme—double, red, more substance to flower than Double Henrietta Ecke, good pot subject
- Pink—sports easily to red.
Poinsettia: Use As Cut Flowers
Using poinsettias as cut flowers requires special care since stems, when cut, exude a milky substance and quickly wilt unless appropriately treated.
Several days before blooms are to be cut, strip all foliage from the stems to where they are to be cut.
As it is, the leaves will not hold up after cutting. However, after the wounds heal, the stems can be handled without so much clanger of loss of sap and wilting.
Methods Of Handling Poinsettia Plants
Since all parts of the plant—stems, leaves, bracts, and flowers—are filled with this milky sap, two methods of handling are suggested to prevent the loss of sap and thus make the blooms last as long as a week.
Using of Ice Water
One method is to use ice water, with ice cubes to make it very cold, and plunge stems in it as soon as cut.
When doing this, be careful not to crowd the blossoms. Then take them as soon as possible to where boiling water is ready.
Using A Paper For Shield
Using a paper shield to protect each bloom from the stem, place the lower two inches of stein in the boiling water and hold it there for four minutes.
After this, submerge the entire blossom and stein in a large container of cold water for several hours.
Using A Container With Rubbing Alcohol
Another method is to take a container with an inch of rubbing alcohol and immediately place the cut stems.
Allow the stems to stay in the alcohol for 30 minutes, then submerge the stalk with the blooms in cold water for several hours.
44659 by Carla Kee