Poinsettias: Popular holiday plant can last long past December

Click Here to Recommend Story View larger image Chris Schmidt, assistant retail manager at Fort Valley Nursery, holds a white poinsettia inside the retail center in Woodstock. Rich Cooley/Daily View larger image Red is one of the most popular color choices for poinsettias. Rich Cooley/Daily View larger image Chris Schmidt, assistant retail manager at Fort Valley Nursery, holds a red poinsettia inside their retail center in Woodstock. Rich Cooley/Daily

By Amber Marra -- amarra@nvdaily.com

When Joel Roberts Poinsett brought a plant with an unusual burst of bright red and green across the border from Mexico to the United States in 1825, he probably didn't realize he was beginning a Christmas tradition that would continue more than a century later.

Poinsettias still find their way into millions of homes during the holidays as a classic symbol of the beauty of Christmas. They have become the best-selling flowering potted plant in the country, with more than 61 million sold in 2004, according to The Poinsettia Pages, a Web site of the University of Illinois Extension that can be found at http://urbanext.illinois.edu/poinsettia.

Though the plants are incredibly popular during the holidays, many do not survive long after Christmas and even less make it to re-bloom the next year.

"It all depends if [the buyers] are plant people or not. A lot of people just let them go after the holidays," said Mable Allen, a floral designer at Shenandoah Florist in Stephens City.

Because poinsettias are native to Mexico -- where they get plenty of warmth -- and are sensitive to how much light and darkness they receive, taking care of them after the holidays can be a chore.

In order to maintain the health of the plants, owners should give them 14 hours of darkness alternated with 10 hours of bright light. This schedule should be maintained for eight to 10 weeks right before the poinsettias are ready to bloom, said Chris Schmidt, assistant retail manager at Fort Valley Nursery in Woodstock.

"They tend to be way more trouble than they're worth to carry over each year," Schmidt said. "It's not easy to time, and you almost need to start at the end of summer."

Poinsettias can also host several diseases, none of which can be transferred to humans but can do severe damage to the plant. Leaf diseases can cause the brightly colored leaves to drop off the plant and root rot can be caused by overwatering and improper drainage. Drainage problems can be remedied by removing the wrapping paper from the outside of the plant after it's watered so excess water doesn't build up around the roots, The Poinsettia Pages Web site says.

It is also essential to keep the soil only slightly moist, but to not overwater because the organism that causes root rot, pythium, is water borne, Allen said.

Whiteflies, insects that typically feed on the bottom of plant leaves, can be a poinsettia killer as well. Many plants are treated to repel whiteflies before they are sold by nurseries, Allen said.

"If you get those kinds of bugs on one plant in your house they will jump from plant to plant," said Betty Showers, owner of Front Royal's Fussell Florist.

Maintaining the temperature a poinsettia is exposed to is also important. Keeping a room too hot can cause wilting, and a drafty, cold area can quickly make leaves drop off, Showers said.

While poinsettias have been welcomed into millions of homes to bring a splash of holiday color, they come in many colors other than red and green. There are more than 100 varieties of poinsettias, but the most popular are red, white and pink, according to The Poinsettia Pages.

Fort Valley Nursery carries such varieties as burgundy; Jingle Bells, which has spots of red, white and pink; and Picasso, which has swaths of white and pink.

There has been debate over whether poinsettias are poisonous if ingested, which has been proven false. The misconception that the plants could be deadly if eaten stemmed from an urban legend that says a 2-year-old child ate a poinsettia leaf in the early 1900s and died shortly after, The Poinsettia Pages site says. An Ohio State University study on poinsettias concluded that even if a child weighing 50 pounds consumed 500 poinsettia leaves, the only result would be a "slight tummy ache," the site says.

Anyone who wants an alternative to poinsettias for the holidays is not stuck with a plastic Christmas tree, however. The Norfolk Island Pine can serve as a miniature tree for those who can't fit a larger one in their home.

"They're really cute and make good gifts for people in the hospital or a nursing home who can't have an actual Christmas tree," said Andrea Rowley, manager of Flowers by Snellings in Winchester.