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Show Tender loving care for thriving poinsettas Do you know the origin of the lovely plant we have come to identify with Christmas? These colorful plants were first introduced to America in 1825, by Joel Poinsett, then serving as our Ambassador to Mexico, who brought some 16 plants back to his South Carolina greenhouse. He gave them to friends and botanists with greenhouses who nurtured nur-tured them carefully. Poinsettias need specific care if they are to flourish, but that care is not really complicated. They are happiest kept at room temperature, near a window, in full daylight, but out of drafts. Water when the top soil feels dry to your touch, keeping the soil moist but not wet. If you decide to move your poinsettia outdoors for the summer, it will need cutting back to help it retain its shape. To encourage a shorter, fuller plant cut it back between the middle of July and the beginning of August, and repot in a pot one or two sizes larger than the original, and bring indoors again about Labor Day. Poinsettias are photo-period sensitive plants that flower in response to the length of the day. Ten hours of daylight day-light and fourteen hours of darkness will start flowers on their way, but the least glimmer of light during the dark hours will abort any flowering. From about October 1 to mid-December, the plant should be in complete darkness from sunset to sunup. It can be put into a closet, in a room that remains dark through those hours, or under a table that is skirted to the floor. If you have a large enough carton available up-end it over the poinsettia to keep light out. Unless the plant is kept in the dark it will not flower. The colorful bracts that develop from this period will be ample reward for your tender loving care, and will add much excitement to your holiday decor. |