Ready for a Foliage Friday update? I hope so! Here is your friendly plant post, where I talk about a plant I love and hopefully convince you to either plant it or just be more knowledgeable about it.
Plant: Poinsettia, Eurphorbia pulcherima
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| Poinsettia plant |
Why: At Ball, employes are able to purchase poinsettia plants for the holidays. Upon asking my mom if she was interested in some, we both realized we didn't know too much about plant care or what they prefer. What a perfect topic for a Foliage Friday post! So here comes some information on a popular holiday plant.
Landscape/Plant info: The bright parts of the plant that we think are flowers, are really just brightly colored bracts. They turn to the color we recognize (red, white, pink) after spending at least 12 hours for 5 days in a row in the dark. The poinsettia prefers a lot of light during the cool part of the day to have the brightest color, so a solid light source is important after the color is established. But if you can avoid sun during the hot part of the day, it would be better. Typically the poinsettia is an indoor plant, don't let it get exposed to temperatures under 50 degrees. If you want to continue the plant's longevity after the first season, you need to put the plant in the dark for around 2 months along with some light watering. Be sure not to let it sit in water, that can cause rot, etc.
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| Red, pink, and white colored poinsettias |
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| See these green/yellow parts of the plant? THAT is actually the flower... not the red leaves! |
Other uses: Other than a delightful holiday plant, there are no other "uses" persay.
Fun facts: The poinsettia is native to Central America and Mexico. It was named for Joel Roberts Poinsett who introduced it to the United States. While the poinsettia is irritating to the skin and stomach, it is not as toxic as their reputation leads people to believe. If sap from the plant gets into an eye, it can cause blindness for a small period of time. December 12th is National Poinsettia Day.
Check out this article for some information about how to keep your poinsettia for more than one season.
Information and pictures from: http://urbanext.illinois.edu, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poinsettia, http://gardening.about.com
2 comments:
Great blog post! Very informative and I loved the pics!
Aren't they bad for cats or something? I actually didn't have any this year!
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