Poinsettia

Thank you Strongy - I love you too :D - I am quite hopeful of well over 3 inches!

Which are you talking about Vicky - the red Splendens - or others that you had. I took cuttings of my S. splendens in November and they are now nearly two feet high. They started to flower even as they were making roots as cuttings. They could make flower buds faster than I could cut them off - so I gave up after a while. And they are still flowering like mad now. Last year's ones grown from seed started to flower in July and continued till the frosts. And the one specimen that I brought into the house has continued to flower till today! I must cut it back as I am getting new shoots now from lower down.

 

Trimming back the Lantana hedge today there was a surprise waiting .... I discovered the Poinsettia which shoots up it's stems to 2.5 / 3 meters and then changes its brachs and flowers in November/December/January, to be colouring and flowering at the point where it was cut back in March ....









It's never done this before ... I wonder what it will be doing when it is supposed to be doing this .... :cnfs:

 

Having had it's strange start to the year after it's cutback, the Poinsettia is again about 3 meters tall but quite sparse this year, but still a lovely sight to behold ...





And one a lot of you won't like, a hybrid which I find quite stunning ...

 

It is looking good in the sun Vicky. I have never liked the new engineered cultivars and there are many, I still prefer the red ones but each to their own.

 

I am not sure if Vicky is with us now - she will be sorely missed if she has really gone away. We need a bit of sunshine cheer. My after christmas Poinsettia died in January, so I never did get to see if I could grow one to nine feet over the summer. But there won't be a shortage of them about, so I think I will have another go :D