A Stroll Through the Garden: The magic of poinsettias
Merry Christmas everyone! I had a reader ask me a few years ago about this large poinsettia in her living room and how to get it to come back into bloom.
There are so many different types of poinsettias out there that can fit most decors. Have you ever wondered what it takes to get your poinsettia, or Euphorbia pulcherrima, to come into bloom? Without these beautiful leaves one would not have much of anything. My folks raised these plants for a very long time. I remember the 24-foot tall pyramid of red poinsettias we used for a winter program one year. Let me know if you remember the event.
There is a magic to these plants on a number of levels. When you look at a poinsettia, the bloom it is actually a leaf and not a petal. Flowers on this plant are actually the tiny yellow structures at the end of the stems. Would you have guessed that tiny yellow structure was actually the flower?
Poinsettias are a North American native. Joel Poinsett, the former ambassador to Mexico, brought the poinsettia to the United States and we have adopted this plant as the best-known Christmas flower in the United States that growers have had a chance to modify and improve for color. This information is significant in that you are going to attempt to imitate nature to get your poinsettia leaves to bloom the colors you want.
Tips for blooming your poinsettia
To get these leaves to bloom you are going to need 12 hours of darkness starting on Oct. 1. We need to keep this date in mind to get your poinsettia to come back into bloom next year. This will fool this photo-periodic sensitive plant into thinking that your plant is back in Mexico and will start preparing to come into bloom. When I took the greenhouse management class at Ohio State University – Agriculture and Technical Institute, Dr. McMahon taught us about the consequences of photo-periodism in the form of DIF. Simple term but complex in implementation. On a commercial basis you have to be able to roll out a dark cover over the beds where you are growing the poinsettias and do all of this with a specific time in mind. In three weeks you will see color developing in the leaves. For those of us trying to do this at home, we need to have a spot in our closet to get them to turn colors.
Since the COVID-19 virus restrictions lifted this year, I went to Alta greenhouse in Mansfield to look at the new varieties of poinsettias this year. A manager by the name Josh was my guide through the greenhouse. For the new varieties there is Princettia with miniature white brachts that are maybe one-third the size of a standard poinsettia, orange peach pink bracht highlighted with a pink center and orange outer brachts called Autumn Leaves, two trail poinsettias called Tidings Light Pink that has a light pink bracht with a dark vein and Tidings Dark Pink a red bracht with light pink vein. There is a new type of white bracht that is called Frozen. I confirmed that again this year the red poinsettias are the top sellers by far and pretty much own the market, but there are the new exciting types of poinsettias available if you seek them out.
Don’t leave your poinsettia in drafts. Remember to water your poinsettia after you have taken it out of its sleeve and putting it where you can allow the water to drain. Take normal care of your plant. Like my folks you may be able to have your poinsettia for years.
This Christmas season has been unusual in that I have felt extra cold lately. Don’t know why but I have. One thing that does warm me up is that I know tropical plants like the poinsettia can give me warm thoughts.
Hope all of you have had a good season. Try to extend your gardening in some form. If you have any gardening problems indoors or outdoors you can e-mail me at ericlarson546@yahoo.com. My websites are ohealthyfoodcoop.org. You can find links to the blogs to leave comments soon.
Eric Larson of Jeromesville is a veteran landscaper and gardening enthusiast and a founding board member of the Ohio Chapter of Association of Professional Landscape Designers. He encourages your gardening questions by sending an email to ewlarson546@yahoo.com.
This article originally appeared on Mansfield News Journal: A Stroll Through the Garden: Poinsettia magic and tips for blooming
