“
Home For The Holidays” November 21, 2012 A Lincoln Daily News Magazine Copyright 2012
16
Decorating or looking for a gift? Consider
the lovely, graceful poinsettia
T
hinking about decorating with fresh,
living plant material this holiday
season? Consider the festive poinsettia.
With lovely bracts of deep green leaves topped
by a canopy of stunning red, this is the plant
that says it’s Christmas.
The poinsettia is distinctively
attractive in a single pot with foil
and ribbon, or stunning in
mass displays. New cultivars
grown in a 4-inch pot are
small enough for limited
spaces; larger varieties
can make quite a statement
in a big space; and en masse,
the effect is sensational.
Today’s cultivars go way beyond
those great holiday reds. You may
wish to enhance your decor or coordinate
with a holiday color theme. Poinsettia blooms
--
actually colored bracts of modified leaves
--
come in a rainbow of spectacular reds as
well as variations of white, pink, salmon and
marbled.
The more than 100 varieties of poinsettia
sport descriptive names like Cortez Red,
Victory Red, Flirt, Galaxy Red, Cranberry
Punch, Nutcracker Pink, Marblestar,
Monet, Plum Pudding, Silverstar
White, Sonora Fire, Victory
Red, White Christmas,
Spotlight Apricot and Pearl
--
all more than living up to
their names.
The hottest new poinsettia
is one with flowers that
resemble rose petals. Most
people just love it, but a
traditionalist might not. The rose
poinsettias are now available at Ace
Hardware and will likely be found at most
other holiday plant sources this year.
Decades of cultivation have led not only to
the newer and longer-lasting colors but to a
more durable and water-tolerant plant. Newer
cultivars are also more suitable for the lower
light and drier environmental conditions of a
home or business.
Altogether, the versatility of today’s
poinsettia lends the plant more value and makes
it great for holiday decorating and gift-giving.
Poinsettias can be ordered over the phone and
delivered as an appreciation to a client and also
make a great pickup choice to take to a dinner
or party.
History
A native of Mexico and Guatemala in
Central America, the plant is known to have
had functional uses by Aztecs in the 14th and
16
th centuries. The sap was used to control
fevers, and the modified leaves were used for
reddish dye.
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