Like most plant enthusiasts in the northeast, I bemoan the fact that I can't enjoy my flower garden in the cold-weather months. I miss the cheery blooms and sweet aroma of growing things all around me. Luckily, I get a quick "flower fix" during the holiday season, when a bevy of Poinsettia cultivars pop up around the shops in town. Each year I'm fascinated by the new hybrids of the Christmas staple.
This go-to holiday plant, indigenous to Mexico, has made its way into Christmas floral displays since 1825, when it was first introduced to our country by Dr. Joel Roberts Poinsett, the very first U.S. minister to Mexico. It's been dazzling us ever since.
The actual plant itself is fascinating. The "flowers" are the tiny yellow specks in the center of the colored bracts--a bract being sort of a modified leaf, if you will. The plant, Euphorbia pulcherrima, is widely considered the horticultural symbol of Christmas, but how it actually came to be so is up for debate.
Many think it's because of the deep red-hue of the first well-known poinsettia bracts. Of course, there is such variety in this plant nowadays, that the poinsettia you choose for your holiday decorating can be white, pink, coral--even spray-painted "fantasy" poinsettias (like deep purple or shocking blue), which can match any color scheme or mood.
Some say the plant's growing habit shaped it's destiny. The traditional star-shaped bracts were thought to echo the form of the Star of Bethlehem. Once again, that's not necessarily the norm for modern-day poinsettia lovers. Nowadays, this plant comes in many shapes and sizes. The Winter Rose poinsettia (pictured in foreground, above) looks like, well, a rose. Note the deep green leaves, which surround this beauty in rich, velvety foliage. Some cultivars have speckled colored bracts, others have variegated lower leaves (see photo, below). As far as this plant is concerned, anything goes! And isn't that what the Season is about: not only accepting all our differences, but embracing the variety--and reveling in it!
Season's Greetings, my friends.
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