Red poinsettias remain classic favorite

KENNEWICK -- It used to be we could wait until Thanksgiving was over before we started to see signs of the approaching holiday season.

This year, merchants started pushing holiday gifts and decorations before Halloween, and this week I noticed some stores advertising the availability of cut Christmas trees and poinsettias.

For good or bad, the holiday season rushes in earlier and earlier each year.

While late November seems too early to me for bringing home a poinsettia, the growers that produce the plants must think about it months in advance.

The process starts every year at this time when the National Poinsettia Trials are run at one garden center and two universities (University of Florida, North Carolina University). Commercial poinsettia breeders sponsor the trials that are open to the public. The evaluation of the cultivars includes a survey of consumers to find out which of the new cultivars they would prefer to buy.

Gardeners delight in some of the novelty cultivars introduced each year, but the traditional red poinsettia still ends up being the ones that consumers tend to buy. The 2007 trials indicated that the red poinsettias received the most favorable reception. Scoring well were Cortez Electric Fire with bright red bracts along with the more traditional dark red cultivar types.

When it comes to white cultivars, consumers indicate a preference for bright white ones such as White Christmas. There are a number of other novelty types that seem to amuse consumers and scored well in their own novelty categories, such as Polly's Pink with bright pink bracts and Winter Rose types with incurved bracts that resembles a rose.

Chances are, about 75 percent of consumers buying a poinsettia will take home a red one.

Whatever the color, here a few hints for keeping them looking their best.

1. Buy a fresh compact plant that looks healthy and has fully colored bracts. At the center of the colorful bracts that we call flowers is the true flower or "cyathea." You don't want to select a poinsettia with cyathea that are open and shedding pollen. That means the plant is past its prime.

You also don't want a plant that's dropping bracts or wilting -- not a good sign of health or freshness. Beware of plants that have been stored for any length of time in plastic or foil sleeves. In these situations, the roots may have stayed wet and already started to develop root rot.

2. Poinsettias don't like temperatures below 50 degrees. When transporting them to their new home, protect them with a roomy paper bag and transport them in a warm vehicle.

3. Place the poinsettia in a location where it will receive at least six hours of indirect sunlight.

4. Poinsettias like it best when not kept too warm. Room temperatures of 68 to 70 degrees during the day and 60 to 65 degrees at night are good. Don't place plants near a heat source such as a heating duct, wood stove, fireplace or even a warm television.

5. Water a poinsettia with lukewarm water when the soil is dry to your touch. Don't let them get too dry and wilt. After watering, excess water at the base of the pot should be discarded immediately. Fertilizer is only needed after bloom if you decide to keep your plant past the holiday season.

* Marianne C. Ophardt is a horticulturist for the Washington State University Extension Office in Benton County.