Poor Poinsettia

These poor plants get no love.  Everyone loves them for a brief few week period during the holidays and then they get dumped thanklessly into the trash along with their red and green foiled plastic pots.

Well, poinsettias, I think you're beautiful...  here's your moment on O Garden, My Garden!

I love the rich color of red poinsettias

6 Things You Probably Didn't Know About Poinsettias

1.  They're from Mexico, introduced to the US in 1825 by Mr. Joel Roberts Poinsett, the first US Minister to Mexico.
2.  They can grow upwards of 10 feet tall.
3.  The red/pink/white "flowers" are actually groups of specialized leaves, called "bracts."
4.  Poinsettias are not really poisonous.  The sap can be irritating and, if you eat the leaves, may cause some gastrointestinal upset, but it won't kill you.  (That belief came from an urban legend).
5.  If you plant a poinsettia outside in LA, it might not turn red...  Poinsettias need 12 hours of pure darkness per night starting in the fall to get that beautiful red color.  Even street lights may inhibit the color!
6.  Poinsettias come from a big diverse family, or more exactly, genus, called Euphorbia.  Here are some it's cousins:

Euphorbia tirucalli

Euphorbia amygdaloides

Euphorbia heterophylla

(These are the sources for the Euphorbia pictures, here, here, and here, and poinsettia info gleaned largely from wikipedia, thank you sir).  The last cousin was most surprising to me because those plants are all over the succulent type sidewalk gardens in Santa Monica.  Do you see the resemblance to our little Poinsettia, otherwise known as Euphorbia pulcherrima?  (Hint, it appears that they all have bracts...)

Those tiny things in the middle are the actual flowers, past their peak in this photo

So how does one go about keeping it alive and reblooming?  A few tips:

• Only water when the top two inches of soil are dry
• Despite it being a "Christmas flower", they like the sun and do not like the cold -- if you live somewhere frosty, you may be out of luck!
• Starting in September or October, they need 12 hours minimum of darkness per night.
• Once the colorful bracts appear, fertilize every 2 weeks with high nitrogen fertilizer

Good luck!

Like blood vessels.  Beautiful and it appeals to the doctor in me...

That said, I have a confession to make.  Why all the close-ups again this week?  Well first, as aforementioned when I got my camera, I have a soft spot for macro shots of flowers.  There is just so much to see.  But the other reason is that my own poinsettia, after two weeks of Christmas-time party, looks like this:

yikes

While I sympathize with their one-hit-wonder plight, my poinsettia will also be going in the trash.  (I'm sorry!  So many plants, so little space!  You don't match!).  Until next year, friend.

Today, I leave with you a beautiful and slightly sad song.  Here it is.  I love guitars.  Happy New Year, friends!