JW: I'm Judy Wagley, this is “From the Ground Up!” I am here at Dow gardens in Midland with Debbie Anderson, she's the program manager here. And Christian Zummer, he is a horticulturalist. We are in a greenhouse packed with gorgeous and colorful plants that say, “It's the holiday season!” Wow, it's so beautiful here! Thanks for having me today, Debbie.
DA: Oh, you're very welcome. We're glad to have you. Thanks for coming on over.
JW: First of all, what are they called “poinsett--as,” or “poinset--tias?”
DA: So it's that's kind of a hot-button topic, and you're gonna get me in trouble! Because here at Dow Gardens, our staff is divided on that. In doing a little research, it actually is just a pronunciation. It's just how people have chosen to do that. And the dialect ranges from region to region. But experts sometimes come to a consensus that says it's probably closer to how the British pronounce it, which is “poinsettia,” which means you're emphasizing the set and sort of de-emphasizing the tia, where you can start to see how those two pronunciations diverged from there. So I really can't help you decide which of the two but I throw in a third for you.
JW: Okay, thanks! Christian. When we're out shopping for a poinsettia, what should we look for?
CZ: When you're in the store, look for a plant that looks healthy. I know it sounds silly, but you want green leaves, nice color. If the plant is really dry, or really wet-- poinsettias like to be evenly moist. So if you have a plant that's really dry, or really wet, it might struggle in the house. Other than that, just a plant that looks really healthy, no sign of spider mites, that's a big pest problem. If you see tiny creatures crawling around, don't pick that plant. And then when you leave the store, make sure that it's covered; they are very sensitive to cold, anything below 50 you run the risk of doing damage. So they should provide you with some kind of foil wrapper, and make sure that plant is covered until you get in the house and then you're safe to take it off.
JW: Then what should we do when we get home?
If you're gonna leave the cover on, make sure the bottom, the bottom foil has holes in it for drainage. If you don't have drain holes, you're gonna run the risk of flooding the plant out. Other than that, keep it in an area that's free from major temperature swings. If you put it near a fireplace near a doorway, you're gonna have hot, cold, hot, cold and the plant is not gonna like that. Find a nice table in the center of a room-- somewhere you can really show it off --and you should be okay.
JW: How about watering?
CZ: Keep it evenly moist. If you're somebody who forgets to water things, put a little reminder in your phone. You know when the soil feels dry, make sure you water it don't overwater it don't underwater it-- kind of a nice even moisture.
JW: Christian, How long should we expect our poinsettia to last?
CZ: As a holiday plant you should be able to get through Christmas pretty easily. And it should be pretty maintenance free-- just water it and keep it nice and warm. If you're going to keep it longer, it's a plant that you can keep longer, but it requires a lot more involvement as far as keeping track of day lights and all that stuff. So best to keep it through Christmas. And then if you're really dedicated, you can kind of go from there.
JW: Okay, thanks for that. And all of the different colors?
CZ: So most of them are red. You do have white, pink. A big one that's coming around now is kind of the orange. We had one that was kind of a salmon-orange that I liked. There's a breeder in California that won an award for an orange one, but mostly red, but if you don't like red, there's plenty of options.
JW: People often ask if poinsettias are poisonous.
DA: So actually they're not. It started out as sort of an old wives’ tale, that poinsettias were poisonous, and then it morphed, and someone actually used it in a scientific manner without researching it --just anecdotally. So then it just kind of snowballed. They've done some scientific research, it is not poisonous. You may get contact dermatitis from touching it too much. Or if you ingest some you might get a stomachache, or nausea or diarrhea or something, but it's not like a poison. It's more like --I'm sensitive to that I shouldn't eat that I shouldn't touch that. I do tend to keep it away from my pets, because I don't want them gnawing on anything because other plants can be poisonous, but the poinsettia is not
JW: Debbie, poinsettias are such a holiday tradition. Why do you think that is?
DA: So there are a couple of reasons. The blooming time is really forced by the darker days. And so in North America that is around Christmas time-- and the ideal optimum growing light cycle is on Christmas Day or there abouts. The other thing is that in cultures throughout history, they would find this plant and decide because it was blooming around that time, it really would shine up the church or wherever they decided to put it. The gentleman who went down and started bringing it back and cultivating it did a very wise marketing thing and sent it out to news studios all over so they could decorate for the holidays, to try to promote buying and utilizing of poinsettias for his business. So there are lots of reasons we use them. But they do just happen to bloom around Christmas because of the day-night cycle up here in North America.
JW: Debbie Anderson and Christian Zummer, we're here at Dow Gardens and Midland. Thanks for joining me today for “From the Ground Up!”
CZ: Hey no problem, thanks for coming over!
DA: Yeah we were glad to join you, thanks!
