The Yellow Farmhouse Garden

December 10, 2007

This Year’s Poinsettia Varieties

It’s been a while since I last posted an article here, but that doesn’t mean that things have slowed down in the garden and greenhouse.

Christmas is just around the corner, so for us that means Poinsettias are the focus of our work.  Actually, the poinsettias have been in the greenhouse since September.  As a result, here in the greenhouse, Christmas has slowly crept up since that time. We’ve watched them grow from small, green cuttings to full colorful plants.

Greenhouse Poinsettias

We’ve been so used to the greenhouse being full of Poinsettias, that it’s hard to believe that they will all be gone soon.

Some of the plants have already been given away last week.

Many people are not aware that there are different Poinsettia varieties, just like there are different varieties of tomatoes.  Through the years, plant breeders have developed varieties for not only color, but, also growth habit (short or tall), leaf shape (smooth or lobed), maturity date (early, mid, or late) and other characteristics.

One very important development in  Poinsettia breeding is the ease of production.  The old varieties needed to be covered with a black shade cloth during a period of their life cycle.  Any light, even from street lamps at night, could cause the crop to fail to bloom.

Fortunatly, this is not as critical anymore.

This year, we are growing three varieties of Poinsettias.

Premium Red Poinsettia

Premium Red is our main crop, we have about 150 of those.

Sonora White

Sonora is our white variety, there’s about 40 of them.

Marblestar Poinsettia

Marblestar is a pink and white variety.  We have about 50 of those.

Greenhouse Poinsettias  of Almost all of our Poinsettias are grown in 6″ pots, except for a couple  dozen 10″ pots.

In two weeks time the greenhouse will be empty of Poinsettias except for a few that we will continue to grow. A couple will be saved for taking cuttings for next year’s crop, while a few more will be left to grow into larger plants for Christmas of 2008.

Bob

December 19, 2006

Jingle Bells, Plum Pudding, Cranberry Punch all the way…Poinsettias

Filed under: Flowers,Potted Plants — bob @ 1:52 pm

In case you haven’t noticed, Christmas is almost here ;). There is something about warm days in the 50′s in Michigan that just doesn’t feel like Christmas. Despite the weather, this is the week we deliver poinsettias as gifts from the greenhouse.

The warm days are actually good for our deliveries; poinsettias can get chilled and damaged if they are exposed to temperatures below 50 degrees for any length of time. We wrap them up in foil pot covers and clear plastic sleeves so that even if it is cold outside, they have their own little “greenhouse” to keep them warm as we move them from car to house.

We grew 5 varieties this year: Freedom Red, Prestige, Winter Rose Red, Jingle Bells, Cranberry Punch, and Plum Pudding. These plants are not grown from seed but from cuttings. Poinsettia breeding and variety development is a huge industry these days. We get our stock as started cuttings, that is to say, they are rooted and have a few leaves on them.

Freedom Red is the most commonly grown poinsettia in the country. This is the red variety that is offered for sale in most stores and shops and is the red poinsettia everyone thinks of whenever poinsettias are mentioned. They are available in other colors as well.

Prestige looks a lot like Freedom but grows a little more upright, that is, their branches hold the leaves up higher. Prestige also blooms a little later than Freedom. We grew red but, again, other colors are out there.

Winter Rose Red has unusual bracts because they are curled and hardly look like a poinsettia at all. I was wondering how these would go over, so I just grew a couple dozen or so. Turns out they are the favorite this year. I have seen these at the stores too.

Jingle Bells you may have seen before, it is red with festive pink spots. These were also very popular with our folks this year.

Cranberry Punch has a very striking color – red with a background of almost florescent pink. You would almost say it glows!

No one really knew what to think about Plum Pudding. This variety grows very upright and has destinctive purple bracts. Even so, some rebels out there chose those over the more common red ones.

Every year someone asks if poinsettias are poisonous. The answer would be, no, they are quite harmless. However, despite the tasty sounding names some of them have, they are not something you would want to put into your salad.

I hope you enjoy your poinsettia this year too.

No dashing through the snow this time.
Bob

here’s a great shot of Jingle Bells poinsettia : http://londonderry.smugmug.com/keyword/poinsettia/427606838_tVx63nh#!i=427606838&k=tVx63nh

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