Poinsettias
Question from Jeff:
I recently bought your So Cal Organic Gardening book and like it very much. Helped me right away on winter time sweet peas, and made me feel better about poinsettias. That is, I have been trying to grow poinsettias for the past decade, bought from nurseries, promised they can “grow” outside. Yet they always die or stagnate. I assumed these new flashy poinsettias are really only good for indoors, but always the nursery said “wrong.” Well, reading your book, I’m right. Question: can you recommend an online nursery that sells poinsettias for garden, e.g., the “Hollywood” variety you mention? I had outdoor poinsettias 30 years ago, and wish to bring them back. My garden is in Pacific Palisades (next to Santa Monica) about one mile from the water.
Answer from Pat:
I am delighted to hear that you read my brief history of the poinsettia in California and you are absolutely right the kind you purchase for Christmas do not grow well outdoors. The old varieties were a total joy here and it’s sad they are so seldom found. There are even better ones than ‘Hollywood’. I suggest you ask at botanical gardens for this plant. The best way to start one is from a cutting taken in spring. I got a cutting last year but it was given to me by a garden club in January and this was the wrong time of year to plant it, not warm enough. Besides, it was already too dried out when I got it. So it doesn’t appear to be growing. If I find a source of these outdoor varieties of poinsettias I will let you know. I have heard that there are several fine poinsettia trees growing outdoors in Encinitas and that the owners are happy to give cuttings in spring but I have not yet found them. If you ever see one of these plants growing in an old neighborhood, ask for a cutting in spring and go back and get it then. Any time between March and May is a good time to start them.
I have tried every year for as long as I can remember to continue growing my “Christmas” Poinsettias outdoor. Well, about 5 years ago I had a success, it is planted at my east facing front porch and is now about 5′ tall! I didn’t realize that you could take cuttings from it in the spring but I am more than happy to share. I live inland though… in Redlands, San Bernardino county. Nicole
Thank you so much for sharing this experience of yours. I suggest you share the cuttings with a garden club who would be glad to get them. My guess is that the poinsettia that you happened to pick up when it came up for sale at Christmas was ‘Annette Hegg’ or another similar variety. ‘Annette Hegg’ is often sold at supermarkets around Christmas. The colorful bracts surrounding the flowers are slightly smaller than on some other varieties grown for greenhouse culture and the bracts also have a darker red cast, almost black at times. This variety is considerably hardier than most of the varieties we purchase at Christmas time. There are one or two others of similar characteristics but less frequently grown.
I am totally delighted to hear that you now have a tree five feet tall. I hope you are able to keep light from hitting the plant at night so that it will bloom at Christmas. Yes, after bloom (in May) one is supposed to cut off the branches down to one or two buds and they will grow new branches. Stick the cuttings into the ground and they will grow. (If cuttings are taken earlier than April or May the soil isn’t warm enough for them to grow.) When I was in my teens and newly arrived in California in 1944 almost every house in Hollywood and in beach towns had a row of poinsettias growing next to the bare white wall of the detached garage. They bloomed magnificently from Christmas until May. Mostly they were the hardy variety called ‘Hollywood’ that Paul Ecke grew for cut flowers in Hollywood during the 1930’s.
Thanks so much for the information it was so helpful! I will try cutting when the time is right as you have suggested. Thanks again, I look forward to following the info on your site now that I have found it!
I’m glad to have a regular visitor like you! Currently my blog is Q/A format. I usually get one or two queries every day so you should be able to find fresh stuff almost daily. There is a massive amount of information there already since I’ve been doing this for well over a year. You might also enjoy my books. “Pat Welsh’s Southern California Organic Gardening, Month by Month”, my latest book published last year is beloved by readers and readily obtainable. “All My Edens: A Gardener’s Memoir” is a good read. It’s out of print, but you can occasionally find it in internet searches. It’s a collectors item, usually expensive, but occasionally comes up for pennies. My Southwest book is full of photos and jam-packed with info. (Out of print also but you can find used copies at Amazon.com and other sites.) I am now writing another memoir fast as I can. I have made over 20 informational videos for this blog. (See “Videos”)Some of my videos also appear on my Granddaughter’s blog, Girls Gone Child.
http://www.girlsgonechild.net/2011/02/insideoutside-child-friendly-gardening.html
http://www.girlsgonechild.net/2010/07/insideoutside-make-believe-gardens-for.html
http://www.girlsgonechild.net/2010/09/insideoutside-child-friendly-organic.html
Enjoy!
I Am happy to reply. I live in Camarillo CA and planted my last year’s poinsettia last March. Yes, it is a great success. It is about two feet across and about 18′ high. All top layer leaves are red and I intend to plant the one I bought year in March as well.
I’m glad you had success with growing poinsettias outdoors. It would be of interest for you to mark on your calendar the date that the bracts turned red. Since this is determined by day length, though cool temperatures also help, it should be the same from year to year. It is possible to force “bloom” earlier by keeping the plant dark for 14 hours nightly beginning on October 1. (My organic book gives directions for this on page 350.) Outdoors, poinsettias are dependent on natural light in order for bracts to turn red. Any light that reaches them during the natural hours of darkness during winter can upset the process.
Eighteen inches is a good height for a garden plant, but old-fashioned tall varieties that were not developed for forcing in range houses are closer to the natural wild type from Mexico. These will grow as tall as small trees and bloom around Christmas until March. Occasionally one sees these poinsettia trees in old neighborhoods and I wish we had more of them as we did back in the 1940’s and earlier.
I live in San Diego CA in the city. I have been very successful with my poinsettia plants from transplanting hothouse poinsettias from Paul Ecke’s to cuttings off poinsettias growing in my sister’s neighbors yard in Lemon Grove. My success has though has only been in the past 3 years. I worked in schools in Encinitas for 10 years and had been guilt ridden for having thrown more than my share of poinsettia plants in the trash afterr futile attempts to keep them alive. I have lived in the city now for 17 years and not until the last 3 have I had any success. I cannot explain why, just dumb luck. About 3 years ago I almost threw out a large beautiful dark red poinsettia that bract was burgundy, it had been gorgeous and a hot house exclusive of Paul Ecke Farms. The plant started from deep dark green leaves and transitioned to about a foot of deep burgundy bract before it transitioned to small to medium bract in deep dark red at the very top portion with large bright yellow buds/flowers. It was given to me at Christmas time. Before tossing it in the trash around late Jan, looking drab and dried up, I decided instead to plant it in the ground. I planted it on the south facing side of my house in a well drained area that gets mostly full sun. My sprinkling system is set for every 3rd day to water at 4am for 10 min. After the 2 year it exploded with flowers and presents in the shape of a lollipop tree about 5 1/2 ft High at the tip of it’s highest blossom. The trunk is now about 2 inches in diameter. But, my biggest success turned out to be the 8 dead sticks that my sister’s neighbor gave her and she forgot to put them in the ground. It had been well over a year. She had stuck one in a pot months before and it produced a tiny green leaf. They were shriveled, hollow sounding and dry. I decided to take them home and try my hand but I wasn’t very hopeful. I had want cuttings from her neighbor because she had phenominal poinsettias that were huge with a burst not unlike a hug red mum in the center of the blossom. I live on a corner and around my wall 2 1/2 foot wall is a 15 inch deep flower bed also on my sprinkling system. I stuck the sticks in the ground and used an old liquid Green Plant fertilizer I had sitting around for years. I figured what the heck. That was about March 2012 and by August of that year every single one had started sprouting green leaves. They had a remarkable showing that year of rather large green leaves with long red bract and mum like flowers. I was in shock every single one rooted and bloomed. I just left them in the ground and didn’t cut them back but a few inches. This year, WOW, this year was the kicker… OMG, they were huge and still are although most of the green leaves have fallen off and they are starting to thin on top. If I could send you photos I would. I have no idea what variety they are. I asked at Weidners and didn’t get a chance to visit Paul Ecke. My sister’s neighbor doesn’t know the variety. All I can say is that after 30 years of never successfully transplanting a poinsettia to the outdoor garden for some reason now I can’t go wrong. Dead stick, hot house plant, cutting… everything seems to take off. I received another traditional poinsettia Christmas of 2012 and it too is doing fabulous, so much so it looks fake.
I don’t know what I’m doing right. My soil is clay with lots of mulch mixed in… just your typical City Heights dirt with tons of rocks. The drainage is good though and the watering is like clockwork only because I have a sprinkler system. The point is, NEVER GIVE UP.
Thank you so much for sharing your story of remarkable success with growing poinsettias outdoors and letting them bloom naturally in late winter through spring. With the warmer winters we have had in recent years, growing poinsettias outdoors is becoming increasingly viable even when we use the varieties originally designed for greenhouse growing and indoor use. Back in the 1930’s and 1940’s almost every Southern California gardener had poinsettias growing outdoors in his or her garden. However, ever since the secret of making poinsettias bloom for Christmas by managing the length of their nights has been understood, the poinsettia, has been a neglected outdoor plant. No one grew them any more and instead bought them already in bloom to use indoors as Christmas decorations. It is nice to know that you are giving folks an example of the fun that can be had by growing them outdoors in the ground and letting them bloom when nature intended. As you have discovered, they are easy to grow and bloom a long time.
I have a what I was told told is a poinsettia tree I have had issue with white fly and I got that taken care of It is outside and in a redwood box 24inche it was just beauitful for the last 2 or so years now it just looks like a stick no leaves at all the stems are woody looking. I checked the stems and they just snapped off no white sap so what if anything can I do, I live near San Bernardino ca
Your poinsettia is dead. Throw it out. You could try again and next time plant it in the ground. However, most likely it was killed by cold winter temperatures in San Bernardino or by going too dry in the container.
I have been looking for (what my grandfather had) they were Poinsettia canes that would reach 6 to 7 feet tall and have a very full Poinsettia flower at the top of each cane. He would trim them to the ground and they would come back. We could also use them for cut flowers if we put the cut canes in hot water first. He lived in Van Nuys California. Any help would be wonderful.
My dad also grew a row of poinsettias on the dark side of his garage and pruned them this way. In order to bloom in December and throughout spring, they must not receive any artificial light at night. See page 394 in “Pat Welsh’s Southern California Organic Gardening, Month by Month” for an informative discussion of how poinsettias changed and why. In order to grow poinsettias like your dad and mine grew you need to begin with an old-fashioned tall variety. The variety you are looking for is called ‘Hollywood’. Perhaps you could find one from the Paul Ecke Growers in Encinitas, but finding a location that is completely dark at night will be more difficult.