Keeping those Christmas Poinsettias

February 9, 2013 It has lost a few leaves at the bottom.

We had four nice big red poinsettias at Glendower, the Warren County Historical Society's  historic mansion, as part of the Christmas decorations. Poinsettias were "discovered" in Mexico and brought back to this country in the late 1820's.  They are very historically correct for our circa 1845 museum house.

I brought them home, well protected from the cold, in a large cardboard box and set them in the south facing windows in my dining room.  Two of them promptly died - they were over watered while on display at Glendower - but two of them are doing very well.  I thought it might be nice to see if I could keep these two for next year's Christmas at Glendower and bring them back to "flower".  I talked to a couple of my garden club friends, reviewed a couple of my gardening books and read a bit on the Internet. And then I wrote this article for our local paper. I don't think they ever published it, so here's what I found:

February 9, 2013 On sunny days I check for water daily.

         Keep That Poinsettia for Next Year!

Don’t throw away that beautiful Christmas poinsettia plant. With a little bit of care maybe you can salvage it for next year. A couple of simple gardening practices will keep your poinsettia healthy and happy until next Christmas.  But be advised, Dr. Leonard Perry, Extension Professor from the University of Vermont says, “There's no guarantee that your poinsettia will bloom again next December, even with year-round care.” But if you hate throwing live plants away, salvaging that poinsettia is a good project for the whole family. Also, have the kids look up its history. The main who brought it to the US founded a famous institution. Can they name it?

This time of year poinsettias need at least six hours of direct light, so move your plant to a draft free sunny window with temperatures above 65 degrees.  If it still has the florist’s paper encasing the flower pot, remove the paper and place the pot on a pebble lined plant saucer or plate so it will drain when watered.  Water when the top layer of soil feels dry, with room temperature water, until water drains into the saucer. Don’t let the bottom of the pot sit in water as that will cause the roots of the plant to rot. Fertilize the plant with an all-purpose house plant food, then sit back and enjoy your poinsettia for the rest of the winter.

Your poinsettia will start to look leggy and maybe a little bedraggled near the end of February or beginning of March.  Cut it back to about five to seven inches tall and continue watering.  Give it a little fertilizer as well.   By late April or early May transplant your poinsettia into a pot one size bigger than its current home, trim back any leggy growth and give it another bit of fertilizer.  By mid-June you can send your plant outside for the summer.  Give it a sheltered spot with full sun and don’t forget to water.

By the first of September it is time to bring the plant back in doors for its dark night treatment. This is the tricky part of the process.  To bloom by Christmas time the plant needs at least 12 hours of darkness a day until Thanksgiving.   It also needs twelve hours of good direct light.  You can move the plant back and forth between a dark closet, basement and a sunny window or cover it with a cardboard box in the evening and uncover it in the morning.  Continue the process of your choice until Thanksgiving. Then keep your plant in its sunny location, rotating it a quarter of turn each day so that it colors evenly, and enjoy.

Local gardener Barbara Henn, a member of Lebanon’s Town & Country Garden Club and active in the Garden Club of Ohio, admits she keeps her poinsettia plants alive by cutting them back hard in the spring, then moving them outside for the summer. “Last year I cut them way back. They were pretty small still in September so I didn’t bother trying to get them to change color for this Christmas.  I’ll see if they fill out into nice big plants this summer and maybe try to get them to “bloom” next Christmas”.  In the meantime Henn admits her salvaged poinsettias make nice house plants even if they stayed green all year long.