Nothing says Christmas like the red Poinsettia. I don’t care how many colors plant breeders have produced (white, pink, burgundy, marbled, speckled, and hundreds more), in my opinion, the deep Christmasy-red ones are the best! But Christmas is over, and you are left with the past-their-prime Poinsettia plants. What do you do with them now?
First, a little history. Back in 2002, the House of Representatives designated December 12 as Poinsettia Day in honor of Dr. Joel Roberts Poinsett. An avid botanist, Poinsett discovered the flower in 1828 while serving as ambassador to Mexico and sent cuttings back to his home in South Carolina. Although the botanical name for the plant is Euphorbia purcherrina, by 1836 it was widely known in the United States as the ‘poinsettia.’
This festive plant is known by various names worldwide. The Aztecs called the plant cuitlaxochitl, meaning “flower that grows in soil,” because it grows in deciduous forests of temperate coastal climates. Montezuma, the last Aztec king, had them delivered by caravan to his palace in Mexico City because they would not grow at high altitudes. They were valued not just for their beauty; the red bracts were used as a fabric dye, and the sap was used to reduce fevers.
In modern Mexico and Guatemala, Poinsettias are called La Flor de la Noche Buena or Flower of the Holy Night. In Chile, they are known as the Crown of the Andes, and in Spain, a totally different tradition gives them the name Flor de Pascua or Easter Flower.
Here in Texas, we have a wild poinsettia (euphorbia cyathophora), which the pioneers called ‘fire on the mountain.’ A relative of the showy poinsettias of South America, this plant is heat- and drought-resistant, can bloom from late summer through fall, and can be found along roadsides and fields. Look around in your yard; you might be surprised to see one growing there.
Today 70% of all the Poinsettias grown come from the Paul Ecke Ranch in California. Ecke, who immigrated from Germany in 1906, improved the growing process by reducing the growing season from 18 to 8 months. Ecke also developed the first indoor potted Poinsettia and introduced a grafting method to strengthen the main stem, producing a bushier plant full of flowers. In the 1920s, Ecke spent much of his time traveling across the country educating growers on how to cultivate poinsettias.
The decorative part of the plant is misnamed a ‘flower’ when it is actually a ‘bract,’ or colored leaf. The true flowers are small, yellow, and clustered in the center of the bracts. They do not attract pollinators, so the plant is self-pollinated. (It makes you wonder why the plants expend the energy to be so attractive if they don’t need pollinators to carry the pollen from one plant to another.)
Thought for years to be toxic because of the milky sap they ooze (a few people are allergic to this sap), a 50-pound child would have to eat 500 leaves to feel any toxic effects. But to avoid upset stomachs, you should probably keep children, small dogs, and cats from eating the leaves. Something you CAN do with your kids, however, is to use the red leaves or bracts in a ‘science project’ to create indicator strips to show if a substance is an acid or a base.
To create the test strips, start by removing five large red bracts, chopping them, and placing them in a heat-safe bowl. Add water to cover, then microwave until the water boils and turns red. Cut strips from coffee filter paper, soak them in the colored water, then take them out and let them dry. Once they’re dry, children can use them to test common household liquids like lemon juice, saliva, soda, vinegar, or liquid soap. Place a few drops of each liquid on a strip: if it turns orange or red, the substance is acidic (pH less than 7). If it turns blue or green, it’s basic (pH above 7). No color change means the liquid is neutral (pH 7).
When purchasing plants, buy those with little or no pollen showing in the yellow flowers – this indicates they will be the longest-lasting. Keep the plant in a spot where it gets at least five hours of sun a day and has low humidity. Air temperature is best between 50 degrees at night and 70 degrees Fahrenheit during the day. Avoid areas with air movement to prevent the plant from dropping leaves. Do not let the soil dry out, but keep the plant from standing in water and drowning the roots.
If you choose to try your hand at maintaining this year’s Poinsettia until it blooms next Christmas, don’t be disappointed if you get smaller plants that are closer in size to the native plants. If you are trying to grow Poinsettias outside, plant them in a sheltered area and protect them when temperatures drop below 50 degrees, as they begin to suffer from the effects of the chill. You can plant the Poinsettias in the ground or repot them in a larger container and move them outside in March or April.
If you wish to propagate your own plants, start cuttings from your Christmas Poinsettia in July or August by inserting a three- to four-inch cutting into a small pot filled with half sand and half peat moss. Keep shaded and watered for about three weeks, and move to a larger pot as roots form.
Beginning the first of October, to encourage blooms, the plants need at least 12 hours of total darkness for the next 40 days. So if you have previously been unsuccessful in producing blooms on the plants you have planted in the ground, it may be due to a security light, car headlights, or other light sources interfering with this plant mechanism. Once they begin to change color, the plants need bright light to fully develop the color pigments. A light feeding of a balanced fertilizer will also boost the color production. Left in the ground, over the years, a Poinsettia can grow to the size of a large bush with leaves that remind us of the Star of Christmas, its red-colored bracts reminding us of the blood of Christ, and a bright spot of color in the winter to give us hope for the spring.
