Energy costs hike price of poinsettias

Just about everything is on sale for Christmas this year -- except poinsettias.

Record energy prices during summer drove up the cost of heating greenhouses and fueling delivery trucks, forcing distributors to pass along higher costs to retailers. Many growers planted fewer cuttings, and some took a rare hiatus from producing the holiday plants.

Florists say the wholesale cost of poinsettias has risen as much as 15%, though they’re trying to absorb as much of the hit as they can at a time when consumers are feeling the brunt of a recession that appears to be gathering strength.

Lynne Moss, owner of the Flower Shoppe in the 6,500-person town of Pratt, Kan., said her usual poinsettia distributor had none to offer this year, requiring a special order. The result: Poinsettias that once cost $30 per pot in her shop are now about $35, depending on their size.

Paying $15 to $40 per pot, Americans spend more than $1 billion a year on the flowering plant, which was introduced to the United States in the late 1820s by Joel Roberts Poinsett, who served as a minister to the U.S. in Mexico, where the plant is indigenous.

About 47.5 million poinsettias were produced for Christmas 2007, according to the American Society of Florists, which could not provide an estimate for this year’s crop.

Although some customers, including churches, have been willing to pay extra, others have not. Instead, they’re buying less expensive bromeliads and wreaths.