By Molly Day
November 19, 2008 06:13 pm
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Next Monday, Nov. 24, Pete Carson will open Carson Borovetz Nursery for his annual poinsettia sales event.
Native to Southern Mexico, poinsettias, Euphorbia pulchenima, dominate holiday home and office decor to the tune of 80 million sold each year.
“This year we are offering four sizes and most of the colors available,” Carson said.
Shoppers will find more than 2,000 plants in various sizes and colors at the nursery.
Casual observers never notice the poinsettia flowers because they are so tiny. The colorful leaves or bracts that bring seasonal cheerfulness into our winter environment are not actually flowers.
Carson pointed out that even before the bracts turn colors you could see what color they will be by looking at the petiole or leaf stem. All the plants have green leaves when they are growing in October. But the stem that connects the leaf to the main stems carries the eventual bract color. Look for red stems on red poinsettias.
Carson will have white, pink, red, Monet, maroon, winter rose and marble.
“I have three or four reds this year,” Carson said. “People have their own preferences and I try to have something for everyone.”
Marble has pink centers with white fringe. New growth is pale green in the center with cream outer edges.
Maroon has large burgundy bracts.
Monet is a watercolor mix of dusty pinks and creams.
Winter rose is double dark red bloom with curved or curled bracts.
Pots available
Pixie is a 4.5-inch pot miniature with six to eight blooms — ideal for tabletop, bedside, desks.
The 6 1/2-inch pots have two plants per container and there will be 12 blooms. This size is the most popular for home coffee tables.
Eight-inch pots contain three plants, planted close together to create a taller display. This height is often used around a fireplace when it is not burning.
Hanging baskets are 10 inches in diameter and will have 20 blooms.
How they are grown
In the middle of August when most gardeners are sipping iced tea, Carson received 4,000 poinsettia plant cuttings. When they arrived, their root ball was about as big around as a ball-point pen.
“All poinsettias are hybrids grown from cuttings,” Carson said. “Each variety has different growing characteristics that I’ve learned over the past 25 years.”
For example, a cloudy spell will impact when the bracts become colorful. August and September heat, an October hard freeze and insect migrations, all have to be worked around. Carson keeps both growing houses controlled with fans and heaters to keep the poinsettias at their required 75-degree daytime and 64-degree nighttime temperatures.
Carson said he has learned from experience how many of each color to grow.
By the way, poinsettias are not poisonous. A few individuals have an allergic rash after touching the sap inside the stems of all Euphorbias.
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