THURSDAY, DECEMBER 12, 2024, POINSETTIA DAY

 THURSDAY, DECEMBER 12, 2024 - NATIONAL POINSETTIA DAY

National Pointettia Day

From the link:

In 16th-century Mexico, the connection between the poinsettia plant and the Christmas season began. According to legend, a girl wanted desperately to celebrate Jesus's birthday. Worried, she feared she would have no gift to offer because she was so poor. An angel tells her to give any gift with love. After gathering weeds alongside the road, the young girl placed them in the manger. Miraculously, the weeds bloomed into beautiful red stars.

The poinsettia initially came to the United States with Joel Roberts Poinsett, an American botanist and the first U.S. Minister to Mexico. In 1825, he sent cuttings home to Charleston, South Carolina.

However, in the early 1920s, the poinsettia started taking root in American culture. Paul Ecke, a second-generation farmer in California, discovered a grafting technique that caused the seedlings to branch. Paul Ecke Jr. later advanced poinsettia sales through shipping and marketing by hawking their Christmas flower at roadside stands. 

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In my reading, I found these (which was a surprise to me).  Many friends have reminded me that poinsettias are poisonous to cats and dogs.  But . . . 

RESEARCH

No, poinsettias are not poisonous: 

• Toxicity
  Poinsettias are not poisonous and are no more toxic than other houseplants. A 1996 study found that poinsettias were non-lethal, and most patients did not require medical treatment.
  
  

• Symptoms
  Eating poinsettia leaves or bracts might upset your stomach, but it's unlikely to result in a trip to the hospital.
  
  

• Safety
  To keep pets safe, you can set poinsettias out of reach of curious pets and toddlers. 

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My poinsettia plant:

Last year, my neighbor upstairs at my apartment complex brought me a dying poinsettia plant. She (my neighbor) thinks I am a plant expert. I have Swiss Chard, Spinach plants, aloe vera, and a spider plant on my patio. I had heard that saving poinsettias over the year was difficult, but I left them outside under an overhang so they didn’t get direct sun. It dropped most of its leaves, and (rarely) I watered it. I was surprised when a new green leaf appeared.  (She gave me a dying orchid a few years back that didn’t survive).  

I have a few Christmas items in my apartment or on my patio.  I do have a manager scene, but without animals or people.  I have a two-foot white Christmas tree and a new Christmas panel to hang outside (but I’d have to take my Texas Longhorn panel down first).  

So, I am amazed to have a poinsettia plant that I (barely) nursed back to life!!

LOVE WINS (and even love to plants and animals)

LOVE TRANSFORMS (from green leaves to colorful red with berries)

Karen Anne White, Thursday, December 12, 2024