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Tag: Poinsettias

Christmas is a cold-weather holiday, but poinsettias like it warm

Posted on by Neal
Poinsettias
Poinsettias are America’s No. 1 potted plant, with red being the most popular color.

Christmas is celebrated around the world, but it clearly leans into cold weather.

Santa lives at the North Pole, after all. Among the most common holiday imagery are snow-covered evergreens, chestnuts roasting on an open fire, Jack Frost nipping at your nose.

But it doesn’t take a lot of sleuthing on the Internet to find a stock image of Santa unwinding after a globe-trotting Christmas Eve. He’s lounging in a beach chair, his red pant legs rolled up, his bare feet in sand. Often, there’s a colorful drink in his hand, a turquoise-blue body of water nearby.

It is the season of believing, after all. But if a sun-soaking Santa seems far-fetched to you, here’s a warm weather connection to Christmas that you don’t have to take on faith.

It’s a fact that the poinsettia – the official plant of Christmas – is native to Mexico. It’s a tropical plant that finds its comfort zone between 65 to 70 degrees during the day.

Despite having only a six-week selling season, poinsettias are America’s No. 1 potted plant, racking up sales of $250 million each year, according to the Future Farmers of America organization.

The plant takes its name from Joel Roberts Poinsett, a native of South Carolina who is credited with bringing the poinsettia to the United States while he was serving as the first U.S. ambassador to Mexico.

Red poinsettias remain the most popular, but they come in more than 100 varieties, “including shades of white, cream, pink, purple, orange and yellow,” FFA noted. Poinsettias are grown in all 50 states.

The colorful part of the plant is a modified leaf called a bract, which often is mistaken as the flower. You must look in the center of the bracts for the small yellow flowers, known as cyathium.

No matter the size or the color of your poinsettia, you’ll want to take these steps to make it last long.

  • Average room temperature is fine. Poinsettias can’t tolerate cold (including icy water) and can suffer from droopy leaves (a condition known as epinasty) if exposed to cold temperatures.
  • Epinasty also can result from a build-up of ethylene gas. Big-box retailers are notorious for leaving poinsettias in plastic sleeves, which trap ethylene and essentially ruin the plant.
  • Bright, ample light is best for the plant, mimicking conditions in Mexico.
  • Keep the plant moist but not sitting in water. Like people, poinsettias don’t like wet feet. The frequency and amount of water will vary depending upon the amount of sunlight, humidity and pot size to which the plant is exposed.
  • Poinsettias are sensitive plants, so you want to avoid banging them into things as they can bruise easily.

Not only are poinsettias a prominent part of Christmas, but they are the subject of their own holiday.

National Poinsettia Day, celebrated on Dec. 12, marks the anniversary of the day that Joel Roberts Poinsett died in 1851.

To get the most out of your poinsettia, treat it like the tropical plant it is

Posted on by Neal

If you’ve watched the classic TV version of “Frosty the Snowman,” your heart probably sank when he stepped out of the cold and snow and into a warm greenhouse.

He melted in the heat, only to come back to life when Santa opened the greenhouse door and let a cold draft of air in.

What you may not have noticed was that the greenhouse was filled with red poinsettias. For them, a cold draft is a dangerous thing.

“Poinsettias don’t like the cold, so you want to keep them away from drafty doors,” said Geoff Royer of Connells Maple Lee Flowers & Gifts.

The juxtaposition of poinsettias, also known as “The Christmas Flower,” with cold and snow belies the fact that they are tropical plants, native to Mexico and Central America.

You must treat them as such if you want to get the most out of your poinsettia this holiday season.

National Poinsettia Day

Of course, December is synonymous with Christmas, but Dec. 12 is National Poinsettia Day. It commemorates the 1851 death of Joel Roberts Poinsett, the first U.S. ambassador to Mexico and the man after whom poinsettias are named.

Poinsett introduced the plant to the United States in 1825, sending samples to friends in his native Charleston, S.C. Poinsettias made their public debut at a Philadelphia flower show in 1829.

For their first hundred years in America, poinsettias were mostly sold as cut flowers. That was until Paul Ecke, a southern California agriculturalist, created varieties that could be shipped in pots.

Poinsettias registered sales of $213.7 million last year, according to Axios, up 40 percent from 2020.

Care tips

But for all the popularity of poinsettias, how to care for them remains much less well known and bear repeating. In fact, we go over poinsettia care tips with our own staff in the lead-up to every holiday season.

Geoff Royer of Connells Maple Lee Flowers & Gifts.

Unless you want to end up on someone’s naughty list, here’s what else you need to know to ensure your Christmas Flower lasts well into the new year.

  • Average room temperature is fine. Poinsettias can’t tolerate cold (including icy water) and can suffer from droopy leaves (a condition known as epinasty) if exposed to cold temperatures.
  • Epinasty also can result from a build-up of ethylene gas. Big-box retailers are notorious for leaving poinsettias in plastic sleeves, which trap ethylene and essentially ruin the plant.
  • Bright, ample light is best for the plant, mimicking conditions in Mexico.
  • Keep the plant moist but not sitting in water. Like people, poinsettias don’t like wet feet. The frequency and amount of water will vary depending upon the amount of sunlight, humidity and pot size to which the plant is exposed.
  • Poinsettias are sensitive plants, so you want to avoid banging them into things as they can bruise easily.

We wish you and your family a Happy Poinsettia Day and a Merry Christmas!

Here’s a handy guide to your Christmas poinsettia

Posted on by Neal


Poinsettias have been called the lobster flower and flame leaf flower. By any name, they are the Christmas flower, although their flowers actually aren’t the colorful parts for which they are known.
But like an eager child who hasn’t made a wish list yet can’t wait to open gifts on Christmas morning, we’re getting ahead of ourselves.
First, some poinsettia background:

  • Native to Mexico, poinsettias are perennial shrubs that can grow 10 to 15 feet tall.
  • Poinsettias were introduced to the United States in 1825 by Joel Roberts Poinsett, the first U.S. ambassador to Mexico.
  • Dec. 12 is National Poinsettia Day in America, marking Poinsett’s death in 1851.
  • Poinsettias were first successfully grown outside Mexico by Bartram’s Garden in Philadelphia, a 50-acre National Historic Landmark that still operates.

Some people pronounce it “poinsetta” (three syllables), and others say “poinsettia,” (four syllables). We’re not sticklers either way. It’s more important that you enjoy your poinsettia and get the most out of it.

Grown in all 50 states

But while there’s leeway when it comes to pronunciation, there are strongly rooted facts about poinsettias:

  • The colored parts of poinsettias aren’t flowers but bracts (leaves).
  • Poinsettias come in more than 100 varieties, from traditional red and white to pink and burgundy, marbled and speckled.
  • Poinsettias are commercially grown in all 50 states.
  • Ninety percent of all poinsettias are exported from the United States.
  • Contrary to popular myth, poinsettias are not poisonous, to humans or pets: An Ohio State study found that a 50-pound child who ate 500 bracts might have a slight tummy ache. Some people with latex allergies have had skin reactions to the sap that comes from poinsettia leaves.

Poinsettia care

Connells Maple Lee offers decorated and undecorated poinsettias in multiple color and size options.
Poinsettias are happiest in conditions that approximate their Mexican origin: as much bright light as possible, warm and never sitting in water. Like humans, they don’t like wet feet.
The plants can suffer from droopy leaves, a condition known as epinasty, if they are exposed to cold temperatures or experience a build-up of ethylene gas.
If you’ve ever shopped for poinsettias at a big-box retailer, you may have seen a rack of them still in their protective sleeves. What you’re really seeing is those plants being ruined because the sleeves trap ethylene gas. An experienced florist knows to remove the sleeves as soon as possible.
By any name or pronunciation, poinsettias are a beautiful and safe holiday tradition, a gift of Mexican origin that keeps giving to the world nearly two centuries later.
Additional source: University of Illinois Extension