The poinsettia’s red renaissance
Christmas trees are having their moment today, but soon they’ll be tossed out along with empty boxes, excess leftovers and still-flowering poinsettias.
Say what? Is there no way to extend the lives of these potted beauties? As a matter of fact, there is.
Today’s poinsettias, or “points” as they are called in the trade, aren’t as tough as the wild species that flourishes as a tall, rangy shrub in Mexico. There, over time, the leaves, milky sap and vividly colored bracts (no, they are not true leaves) have long been used for dye and to treat skin disease and fever, remove unwanted hair and promote lactation. (So much for the urban legend of their being poisonous.)
These days, the great majority of the world’s poinsettias are hybrids that begin life at the Paul Ecke Ranch in Encinitas, Calif. Modern plants are bred with commerce and shipping in mind, so the best are super-compact, bruise-resistant and tolerant of low light and erratic watering. In the garden, however, their foliage is sparse, they don’t color well and their large heads are too weighty for their spindly stems.
For these reasons, you may want to “reflower” yours in containers rather than in the ground. Success starts with babying and ends with some tricks.
At this time of year, when nighttime temperatures dip below 55 degrees, you should keep the plants in a cool, airy room with ample indirect light. Water when the soil surface dries, before the plants wilt, and never let them sit in standing water.
As temperatures rise, move them outdoors to a bright but wind- and rain-protected spot. When bracts age and fade, cut stems to about 8 inches and begin light twice-monthly feedings.
By summer, transplant them to slightly wider pots; pinch growing plants to keep them bushy until the start of September.
In the fall, colored bracts develop as nights grow longer. For sure color at Christmas, plants need at least 14 hours of absolute darkness (try a box or completely dark room) each night, beginning Oct. 1. In November and December, they also need six to eight hours of bright sun and warm night temperatures.
If you want to grow your poinsettias in the ground, you’ll need to wait until June. Set them out then and in the correct spot -- one with lots of heat and sun -- and they can grow to great heights with little water or fertilizer.
Established garden plants are drought-tolerant and survive with one spring feeding, if any. For lush foliage, water weekly and feed again in summer. Though aphids, mites and powdery mildew can be occasional problems, few pests threaten old plants.
To complement deep-red poinsettias, try companion plants with strong colors. Various perennial and annual daisies work well: buttery coreopsis, golden euryops, orange tithonia and hot-colored zinnias. In a dry garden, silver-leafed artemisias, red and purple penstemons and succulent aloes do the trick.
The results can be seen all over town. Outside Mary Rai’s house in West Los Angeles, a spectacular double-red poinsettia “tree” began as a cutting from a neighbor. The plant is surrounded by azalea, plumeria, sago palm and deep-yellow Allamanda, a tender vining shrub. Rai whacks back the poinsettia radically every spring and explains that the weather determines its bounty, adding that “this year it’s very pretty.”
Pilar Reynaldo, a Los Angeles County master gardener, uses similar tactics with the venerable poinsettia tree next to her Silver Lake home. Early this year, she reduced it to a stump; it’s now 6 feet tall and putting on a show, much as it has since a previous owner had planted it when the house was built in 1921.
So pity not the poor poinsettia. It’s quite the survivor.
