Almost since my toddling days, I’ve been attracted to gardening – I probably started out by pulling a pot off a table and causing a big commotion – but later my folks gave me a poinsettia that made me forever an admirer of potted plants and learned about dealing with houseplant bugs. I was five when they gave me the first one, and afterwords it became a yearly tradition as long as I lived at home. I knew I would get one, but there were always many whisperings about where they could put the package wrapped like an inverted cone, and whether it would freeze in the spare room; and I always tried to be surprised – but it’s easy to get excited over a bright red poinsettia!

The American Poinsettia Society suggests that white poinsettias should be used for January decorations, and the pink one for February. If you provide the right conditions, the Christmas flowering poinsettia can still be bright in February. No chilling drafts, enough water to keep the soil nicely moist, sunshine, a temperature no lower than 65 degrees, and not much more than ten degrees higher, and plenty of moisture in the air around the plant – sure – fire ingredients for a long lasting poinsettia.

When the bracts finally begin to fall, set the plant in a light place where the temperature will not fall below 55 degrees, and keep the soil a little bit moist. When the weather is warm outdoors, sink the pot to its rim where it will have the morning sunlight and protection from high winds. During June, July or August, take cuttings of the new wood and root in moist sand and peat moss, or in vermiculite. A container that can have a makeshift “greenhouse” of plastic erected around it will help the cuttings to root faster with less wilting. When roots have formed, pot in rich, loose soil, and sink the pots where the old plant has been growing. Just as soon as the nights begin to be cooler, bring the pots to an enclosed porch, or indoors. Sudden high or low temperatures, dryness in the air around the plant, and in its soil, and lack of sunlight may cause the leaves to yellow and fall, leaving an unsightly bare stem. They must be grown indoors in a room that has no artificial light in it during the normal dark period of each 24 hours not like my low light palms which do well without extra lighting. If any light reaches them at night, the red (sometimes white or pink) “flowers” will not form at the proper holiday time.

The easiest way to keep a poinsettia from year to year is to repot in the spring before setting outdoors, and then to prune back the old bare stems to about eight or ten inches from the soil. The new growth is allowed to grow and mature on the old wood, and this avoids the trouble of rooting cuttings. When this is done, be sure that a taproot does not grow through the bottom of the pot into the garden soil. If such a root grows and is broken when the pot is brought indoors in the fall, all the leaves will fall from the plant.

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