DO you know the history of poinsettias at Christmas time?
Well, it goes like this in Mexico....several weeks before Christmas, elaborately decorated market stalls or puestos are set up in the plazas of every
town and city. As some of us witnessed years ago, some folks traveled hard miles from remote areas to get to these markets. The markets offered crafts
of every conceivable kind, foods such as cheese, fruits, nuts, and cookies, and flowers such as poinsettas
Now comes the history of the poinsettia. The poinsettia is native to Mexico and is believed to have first been used in connection with Christmas in
the 17th century when Mexican Franciscans included the flowers in their Christmas celebration.
There is a legend connected with the flower. (There's always a legend, right?) A little boy named Pablo was walking to the church in his
village to visit the Nativity scene, when he realized he had nothing to offer the Christ Child. He saw some green branches growing along the roadside
and gathered them up. Other children scoffed, but when he laid them by the manger, a brilliant red star-shaped flower appeared on each branch. And
there you have the beginning of the Christmas tradition of the poinsettia.
When in Rome do the traditional stuff....it's real and done by some folks who do Christmas a little differently than a lot of us.
The main Christmas celebration in Mexico is called las posadas, which refers to processions reenacting Joseph and Mary's search for a place to stay
in Bethlehem. The processions begin nine days before Christmas because the original journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem took nine days.
Friends and family members divide themselves into two groups - pilgrims and innkeepers. The pilgrims travel from house to house asking for a shelter
and are refused at each until they finally reach the house where an alter and Nativity scene have been set up. Here the pilgrims are admitted with
great rejoicing, a traditional prayer is spoken, and the party begins. Food and drink are served and then children take turns trying to break open the
piñata.
Poinsettias...makes for a special time of togetherness, don't you think? Bob H - 12-23-2013 at 12:46 PM
Great info Roger!
More about the Poinsettia Tree
The poinsettia is the most popular flowering plant at Christmastime, and in recent years there has been a choice between a normal bush-type poinsettia
and a poinsettia tree. Most people just throw out their poinsettias when the holiday season is over. That’s because almost everyone has tried to keep
their poinsettia alive as a year-round plant and has failed, in spite of numerous gardening experts and publications giving very specific instructions
each year.
Just about all of the poinsettias available to us as consumers are hybrids and these plants require some extra loving care to get them to live beyond
the holiday season. Because poinsettias are from Mexico and Central America, cold to them is around fifty degrees. Joel Poinsett was the very first
person to bring the poinsettia to the United States. He was the first United States ambassador to Mexico.
Many people think that the red or other-colored leaves are the flowers of the poinsettia plant but they are not. They are just leaves which look like
flowers. The flowers are small, yellow clusters at the center of each of those leaves (known as bracts). In order to turn a poinsettia plant into a
poinsettia tree, it is necessary to remove the bottom 2-3 leaves and continually pinch off new growth.
Keep in mind before you start, the poinsettia is in the euphorbia family. This means that if you suffer from latex allergies, touching a poinsettia is
probably going to cause these allergies to act up. So, if this applies to you, always wear gloves, and talk to your doctor about how working with
poinsettias might cause an allergic reaction, and what to do about it.
A poinsettia tree is trained to grow so that the bottom is a two-foot stem that looks like a trunk, and the top, the leaves and flowers of the
poinsettia, look like tree foliage. In order to grow a poinsettia tree for the holiday season, it is not necessary to go through all of the steps that
would be necessary to keep a poinsettia living throughout a year so that it can be forced to bloom at the right time. You have to plant your
poinsettia cuttings at the right time, which means getting them transferred into their first pot by May. Then you should check out light requirements
online because there are several possibilities for wattages and amounts of time.
You will want to start to root the cuttings six to eight weeks before that. Once the cuttings have roots, transfer them to a six-inch pot. Many
growers stake the plant right at the beginning so that they are assured of having a straight trunk or stem. You will continue to use a stake when you
transfer the poinsettia tree to its next pot, which is where it will be happily growing by the time the holidays arrive. The plant should be around
ten inches high and go into a 12-inch pot as soon as the roots are starting to get bound around one another in the plant’s first pot. Stake it very
loosely.
Do not start removing leaves from the plant until September arrives. Then, the first pruning should take place when the lowest shoots on the sides are
around two inches long. Remove the lower shoots, leaving at least ten on the top of the plant. You should also pinch off the top for the first time
during the first week or two of October. Do a second pinching one month later in November. On this one you can pinch back to leave two or three nodes
on the bottom branches and three to four on the higher branches.
When you follow these instructions, you should have a poinsettia tree around three to four feet high by the holidays. Poinsettias are very hard to
grow, so if it doesn’t work out exactly as planned the first time, don’t give up. Try again next year.Mexitron - 12-23-2013 at 03:40 PM
Pompano, cool info (though the second photo I'm gonna say isn't a Poinsetta tree but a Royal Poinciana, Delonix regia). Lots of Poinsettas blooming
around Long Beach right now---its a beautiful plant to have in your garden as long as long as you live in a frost free area. Try to find cuttings of
older non-hybrid plants----the hybrids aren't quite so adaptable to outside conditions.Pompano - 12-23-2013 at 04:05 PM
Thank you mucho, mi amigos. I now know a lot more about the beautiful poinsettias. I'm not that familiar with them (they're all in store pots in
ND), except that years ago I saw the biggest poinsettia tree of my life in Magdalena, a mountain valley village west of San Bruno/Sta. Rosalia. It
was truly HUGE!
Must have been one of those Royal Delonix! Bob H - 12-23-2013 at 04:17 PM
Royal Poinsettia... I saw a lot of them when I lived in Miami...
i'm gonna try and grow them here in mulege, roger...be patient; it'll work..Pompano - 12-23-2013 at 05:32 PM
Quote:
Originally posted by mulegemichael
i'm gonna try and grow them here in mulege, roger...be patient; it'll work..
I'm gonna do my own...I think. A buddy just brought a seed to start with....says it'll grow a doozy.
I thought that they were called Nochebuena Rojo Nochebuena down here
durrelllrobert - 12-23-2013 at 06:13 PM
Poinsett began propagating the plant and dedicated the last years of his life to making the "poinsettia" the Mexican symbol of Christmas throughout
the world. His dedication earned him a fortune even though the plant´s translated Nahuatl name ( flor que se marchita or the flower that wilts)
correctly described one of its drawbacks. (Every Mexican gardener knows that the nochebuena wilts within a few minutes after it is
cut, making it unsuitable for bouquets.) The former ambassador gained a greater success, however, when its original Latin name euphorbia pulcherrima
was changed to poinsettia pulcherrima. Today, millions of dollars of poinsettias are sold each year throughout the world to herald the Christmas
season.
They are called Nochebuena in Mexico, and they are not only read. They have white ones, and others that combine red and white in different forms.
Michoacan is the state that is the major of Nochebuenas know. The city government of Mexico CIty has decorated the green space surrounding the Angel
de la Independencia monument with different colored nochebuenas. They are known as Poinsettias in the U.S. because Joel Poinsette, one of the first
U.S. diplomats posted to Mexico, brought them to the US.David K - 12-23-2013 at 11:25 PM
Locally, we are told Paul Ecke started the Christmas poinsettia tradition, about 100 years ago. (Encinitas/ Carlsbad area of San Diego County). His
grandson recently sold the business, which mostly had moved to Guatemala for production.acadist - 12-24-2013 at 07:03 AM
After living in SoCal most of my life 8 years ago we moved to Denver. Our first Christmas here I bought some poinsettias and put them on the porch as
I had always done. Live and learn.Pompano - 12-24-2013 at 10:15 AM
“Percy, the puny poinsettia is hanging his bloom in dismay. If they had
just kept him wetta, he’d be a houseplant today.”
