Poinsettia

I didn't think I needed to add anything.

 

Sorry, strongy, I don't know about the "flower" aspect which is the bit I have to monitor. When they are just "here" you don't examine every little thing they are perhaps doing, like Bougies and Oleanders.

You just look at them in awe!

I guess I take it all for granted so shall pay more attention. :rolleyes:

 

Dendrobium - thanks for that link. I do remember it from last year. I was interested in Lol's comment that they will take a little frost.

Pete you put your finger on it when you said that the bracts come just below the flower. Thats what I was thinking - but I was not concious of ever seeing a flower. I forgot that some flowers are insignificant, especially next to those bracts.

It seems worth putting one in a greenhouse after Christmas, but as Strongy says these are highly bred cultivars - not species. So they may not be quite the same. But I would like a 6 foot Poinsettia tree next year to put the presents around!

 

I was just going back through this and looking for further info and found these ...

http://www.plantoftheweek.org/week059.shtml

http://www.floridata.com/ref/E/euph_pul.cfm

The first seems to be more devoted to it as a houseplant and the second as an outdoor shrub. I do like Floridata's info in general on many plants.

It seems more difficult to keep it as a houseplant. Other than the once a year cutback I do nothing to mine and it grows in red clayey soil and is left to it's own devices.

I do agree that by everything said here and these articles that those little yellow/red buds are the flowers ... you learn something every day ... mine seem to have far more than the hybrid plants pictured. It's probably alao why the bees and butterflies are attracted to it. I still want to see a seedpod though! As I said above, we take for granted some lovely plants, trees and shrubs here.

Yes, ours do take frost but it is not prolonged here. Peter, I say have a go ... put it in a large pot and put it in your sunniest place in the summer and see what happens.

While I'm here, I'll just add another cheery photo taken from the deck looking down at it this morning.

 

Lol - two excellent links. As you say, you learn something new everyday. You need a stimulus to get interested - so thanks for this thread.

I suspect that it really is no more difficult than any other house plant. Plants in pots are always more difficult because you have to remember to water and feed them, and its difficult to get it just right.

I was interested to see that even the short ones we get will revert to full size if given the chance. I also understand now the light thing. Its simply the plants way of ensuring that it only flowers when the days are shorter and hence cooler (in its native land). Its nothing specifically to do with the bracts - they are just part of the flowering process.

I wasn't suggesting it would survive a winter outside here, but it might survive in a frost free greenhouse.

 

Peter, I wasn't suggesting you put it outside for the winter, only the summer and let it do it's natural thing as mine does and see what happens. I was probably as clear as mud.

 

I've overwintered them in a frost free greenhouse Peter.
I think the reason they appear difficult in pots is because they are sold as house plants, something they really are not, or maybe for a short period only.

 

Evening, pete ... a bit like Bonsai, me thinks .. it's an outdoor shrub, as are mini roses.

 

Yep but OK in a greenhouse over here, not enough light in a house usually.

 

Looking good Lol, remember one from last year.

 

But I've said a greenhouse for the winter all along ... only outside from Spring to Autumn and let it do it's own thing.

All this thing about not Southern facing, so many hours of light and dark ... do I have control over this??? I think not, certainly not the dark aspect in my location.

Once established, you cannot kill the root as I've said previously ... it's like that invasive Passiflora ... lives forever and forever and forever and forever ... and I pull up a dozen shoots a week. The Poinsettia does not die underground, believe me. We didn't want this ... it chose us ... God forbid ...

 

Yours gets natural day length LoL.
If grown as a house plant the room lights affect the day length and so stop the bracts forming.
Likewise a greenhouse with supplimentary lighting would stop the bracts forming.
I'm not sure, but I have heard that just short night exposure to bright light can stop the whole colouring up process.
I believe chrysanthumums, pot grown, are usually brought into flower by shortening the day length.

Strongy probably knows more than me about this.

 

I see where you're coming from pete ... but it would be interesting for one of you to try it "our way" but for you using the greenhouse in the winter and taking it outside as soon as frosts have gone and let it do it's natural thing and establish itself in natural light.

Just a silly me thought ... I'm all for seeing what we can accomplish. I've had my Cane Begonia outside here for years and now I'm trying the Alocasia outside ... and I'll say it's looking pretty good at the moment ... but time will tell.

 

I have a light in my greenhouse, which I tend to use after I come home from work in these dark evenings.
I'm not sure, as I say, but I think just small amounts of lighting can stop the process.

 

I think I'm lost ... but that's not unusual ...

You're saying that light causes them to not "do their thing"? Sorry, I have to disagree as I have no control on the lighting outside and I have more daytime light hours than you do being that little bit more south.