Poinsettia Points and Pointers

By Ron Dieter, Sunnyfield Greenhouse & Gardens

December 23, 1998

Everyone considers the brilliant red blooms of the poinsettia to be a tradition of Christmas, one that began when the plant was brought to America in the early 1800’s.

The plant is native to Mexico and Central America where it is part of the Christmas heritage. Mexican legend has it that a little peasant girl wanted to take a gift to the baby Jesus but was sad because she had nothing to give. Her cousin told her that Jesus would be pleased with even a simple gift. So on the way to the manger, she stopped and gathered some simple roadside flowers in her cloak. When she arrived at the church and opened her cloak, a miracle occurred and beautiful brilliant red flowers cascaded to the floor.

I suppose that you could say that the poinsettia came to the United States through diplomatic channels. It seems that the United States’ ambassador to Mexico, Joel Robert Poinsett, became enthralled with the plant he saw growing as a shrub in the Mexican countryside. He sent a couple specimens back home to his greenhouse in the Carolinas and gave cuttings to his friends and neighbors. Poinsettias took the last name of the ambassador, but it would have been better to have his first or middle name. Joel and Robert are much easier to spell and pronounce. Some folks pronounce poinsettia as four syllables, some as three. Either is correct.

Over time the plant became popular during the holidays and developed into a commercial greenhouse crop. The marketing efforts of Paul Ecke of California are responsible for the popularity of poinsettias. In fact, the poinsettia in your home today probably started out as a cutting earlier this year in Ecke’s California greenhouses.

Poinsettias are easy to care for if you keep in mind its native land where it is warm, humid, no cold drafts, and poor soil. A poinsettia subjected to a sudden draft, or allowed to get too dry, will drop its green leaves. Keep your plant out of direct sunlight and away from heat ducts and drafty doors and windows. Sixty to seventy degrees is just fine.

Make sure foil or wrap does not block the drainage holes of the pot. Poke a hole in the wrap if necessary so that the soil drains freely. Don’t overwater. Allow the soil to dry slightly-not completely-between waterings.

Most folks will say that poinsettia flowers are red (or pink, marble, or cream). Actually all poinsettia flowers are yellow. Look closely at your plant and in the center of the red blooms you will see small yellow round structures that are the true flowers. The red blooms are actually modified leaves called bracts.

Poinsettias are "short day" plants and the bracts turn color in response to long uninterrupted nighttime darkness. I remember a Christmas time at the University of Illinois when the poinsettias in a particular greenhouse did not color up even though all precautions were taken to maintain uninterrupted darkness. The streetlights outside were disconnected and the fuses for the greenhouse lights were pulled. Still no color appeared. The puzzle was solved when it was discovered that the beams of automobile headlights passed across the greenhouse as cars turned the corner down the road. Those short brief exposures were enough to prevent the coloring process.

Properly cared for, your poinsettia will outlast its welcome. My wife usually gets sick of looking at hers about Easter time and throws it out. Some folks like to try to rebloom their plant but that is very difficult to do in a home where the lights are on and off all evening. Better to start with a fresh plant the following season.