What do you do with your Poinsettia after the holidays?

[SubTropicRay]

Do you keep your Poinsettias after the holidays are over? A lady a few blocks from me has a small bed where she plants Poinsettias from years past. Some have surprisingly achieved good size and get excellent color.

Ray

[junglegalfla]

Ray,

I've planted them in the ground before with no problems. I was surprised at how big they get!

[Gbarce]

Did that once and they colored. up in February. Took them out to make room for palms

[palmmermaid]

I can't seem to keep them alinve - in pots or the ground. So this year I am using bromeliads for color instead. Look just as pretty, require very little care, and I can plant them in the yard with success after Christmas. I made a really nice "tree" using an old 3-tier plant stand, bromeliads, and Boston ferns. After New Year's I can take it apart and use all the plants in my garden.

I also made a nice arrangement in a pot by the front door using invasive plants - brazilian pepper, Australian pines, and melaleuca twigs - along with some cocoplumb. I filled the pot up with potting soil and stuck the branches in it. I can just throw all the greenery away later and use the potting soil for something else.

I am trying to be green this year - and not just the color!

[Kool]

I can't seem to keep them alinve - in pots or the ground. So this year I am using bromeliads for color instead. Look just as pretty, require very little care, and I can plant them in the yard with success after Christmas. I made a really nice "tree" using an old 3-tier plant stand, bromeliads, and Boston ferns. After New Year's I can take it apart and use all the plants in my garden.

I also made a nice arrangement in a pot by the front door using invasive plants - brazilian pepper, Australian pines, and melaleuca twigs - along with some cocoplumb. I filled the pot up with potting soil and stuck the branches in it. I can just throw all the greenery away later and use the potting soil for something else.

I am trying to be green this year - and not just the color!

hey palmermaid,

as I may quote you there are bit of a hog watering wise 2 years ago I've potted 1 on seramis that went well, it brought the frequency of watering down to once a week... I read on another site the can take some light frost!!?! i wonder what can they take??

[Dave-Vero]

I haven't tried. A neighboring house has kept its poinsettias through three owners, so they can't be that difficult. But I think another neighbor managed to kill his....

The old-fashioned big poinsettias grow pretty happily in a variety of circumstances. During the years I lived in Jacksonville, Florida, in San Marco and southward, a number of houses had big old poinsettias in sheltered spots, and every December it was sort of a game to see whether there'd be a freeze before Christmas. The plants usually froze to the ground every winter. Christmas cassias were also sort of a a traditional item.

I have a very bromeliad-friendly yard. They thrive where impatiens plants would wither.

[_Keith]

Most years I plant them out in the garden. Cut back mid summer to make them bushier. I usually get a bloom before the freezes take them out permanently. The I take the current years and start all over. I do know of a few here, in good microclimate that have made it long term. They can take close to freezing, but no frost whatsoever. Best planted in areas that do not recieve light after dark (aka. security lights, etc.), if you want them to bloom well.

[joe_OC]

Potted up ours from last year and still going strong. There are a few around town that are eight feet tall and blooming

[Cristóbal]

la flor de nochebuena - poinsettia in english - is from oaxaca state we have many in tijuana of almost 3 meters many people here plant them after the christmas days. i take some fotos soon of some i see here.

Edited December 19, 2008 by Cristóbal

[Walt]

My wife got this poinsettia some years ago around Christmas time and I planted it, along with several others over the years:

[SubTropicRay]

Very nice Walt. I guess they can't receive any nighttime light for at least 8 hours to maintain a yearly red flush.

[DoomsDave]

Ive planted many in the ground, some do much better than others.

All are glorious if they'll bloom . . . .

[Walt]

Ray: I believe I read that poinsettias need nights longer than days, i.e., more than 12 hours of darkeness for many weeks on end to start the red flowering process. The poinsettia in my first photos started to show (first started to develop) the red flowers about a month ago. I guess this process starts after the fall equinox.

My wife bought the below poinsettias (or got them for gifts) during Christmas 2006. I planted them in the spring of 2007 and you can see they bloomed for the winter of 2007. However, these same plants died, except for one, over the long, hot summer. Only one plant remains (one on right end in photo) and it's just a shell of its former self. Oh well. That's the way it sometimes goes.