Renewed Poinsettias

The first new red bract from last year’s gift poinsettias. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Renewed Poinsettias

It’s an early Christmas at Bluebird Gardens. My gift poinsettias from last year are setting new color in their leaves, also called bracts.

These popular annuals from Mexico are the quintessential holiday gift and home decor plant. The traditional red colored plants have in the last decade or so made room for pink, white and candy cane, a red and white variegated variety.

I can remember these growing in Mexico City, Mexico as trees, similar to Missouri’s state tree, the flowering dogwood.

These gift poinsettias from last year were lovely with their beautiful leaf color lasting for several months. After a short summer spent outside in the shade, I set these plants in a basement room where they could get bright daylight but no light at night. They need 14 hours of darkness and little water, which frankly was the hardest part for me to do. I was regularly checking them during the day to make sure they were not dropping leaves. There’s a fine line between moisture deprivation and outright killing these delicate plants.

Then the watch began. Not every day but I was regularly sneaking into the room to see if there was a change. Any change. When the new center leaves started to show a dab of red, I knew we were headed in the right direction.

This dab of color was confirmation the plant leaves were changing color. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

It’s tempting to look for the larger leaves to be changing but it’s the new, tiny center leaves that will be the first to show a change.

New tiny center leaves or bracts with a hint of the changes to come. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Time to find the bag of new potting soil to give this poinsettia a new lease on the holiday.

My other poinsettias are lagging behind with no signs of color. So the biggest lesson from this is that, as in most things in life, it’s all about timing.

The plants need to start their light deprivation in September, when we in mid-Missouri are still going into evenings with a lot of light. To give them their 14 hours of darkness a day, they need to be moved into dark closets or get covered with a box every day. Or located somewhere where there isn’t so much sunlight into evenings.

My other poinsettias are still all green. I suspect I will be welcoming the new year with color when they start changing.

The other poinsettias are still all green. We shall see if they turn. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

There’s a nice sense of accomplishment getting the first poinsettia to start turning color. Now the fun is watching as the rest of the plant follows suit!

Charlotte