by Ray Bodrey | Jan 22, 2020
Many of us enjoy potted poinsettias during the holiday season. However, we often give up on the poinsettia, once the season is over and the festive color has been lost. With some care, a poinsettia can be around for seasons to come, if planted in your home landscape.
Photo: A mature poinsettia planted outside of a home.
Credit: UF/IFAS, Robert Annis.
Once your poinsettia starts to fade after the holiday, you can prepare it for transplanting. Since we live in the cooler, northern area of the state, you’ll have to hold your plant in a protected area until the danger of frost has pasted. During this period, the poinsettia should be allowed to become dormant. Water it occasionally, just enough to keep it from drying out. A thorough soaking about once a week should be sufficient. Poinsettias are especially sensitive to extremes of heat and cold, as well as sudden temperature changes. Because of this, keep your potted poinsettia away from hot air vents, cold windows and doorways, where temperature fluctuates rapidly. Keep your poinsettia in a brightly lighted area, but never in direct sun.
When you’re ready to plant the poinsettia in your landscape, you should carefully consider its placement relative to the amount of light it will receive. Poinsettias are “short day” plants. This means they will set buds in the fall only if the daily period of light they receive is relatively short. If you plant your poinsettia where it’s exposed to extra illumination from porch, window, or street lights, it may never bloom.
Poinsettias will grow in a wide range of soils, sand, muck, marl, and clay and they will need fertilizer. For the correct nutrients, apply a complete fertilizer, such as a 8-8-8 or 10-10-10, three times a year, beginning when growth starts in the spring, in June, and finally in the late fall, after the bracts (flowering leaves) have set. This last application promotes large bracts with showy color. Apply 1 ½ pounds of 8-8-8 or 10-10-10 per 100 square feet each application of fertilizer.
In late winter or early spring, after blooming is over and the danger of frost is no more, poinsettias should be pruned back to within 12 to 18 inches off the ground. If they’ve been frozen, you may have to cut even lower. To insure compact, showy plants at flowering time, poinsettias should be pruned several times during the growing season. Each time new growth reaches a length of 12 inches, it should be cut or pinched back, leaving four leaves on each shoot. This operation should be continued until about September 10th, but no later. Because poinsettias begin to set buds as days become shorter, pruning after September 10th may reduce flower production.
Following these tips should reward you with another beautiful burst of color next holiday season. For more information contact your local county extension office.
Information for this article was provided by UF/IFAS Extension Horticulturist Dr. Robert Black. More information on the poinsettia can be found at https://gardeningsolutions.ifas.ufl.edu/plants/ornamentals/poinsettia.html
UF/IFAS Extension is an Equal Opportunity Institution.
by Taylor Vandiver | Dec 16, 2014
Now that we’ve all been stuffed like a Thanksgiving turkey, it’s time to transition into the final and, arguably, most ornate holidays of the year. Right now you can hear your mantles and door frames crying out to be adorned. Your windows are begging for wreaths and giant red bows. And there may be a certain corner in your house that has been waiting all year for an evergreen, or two.
As we delve into the winter holidays our homes are being dressed to impress. There is nothing better than fresh foliage placed along a mantle or maybe a little mistletoe hanging from a previously unadorned beam. The scent of pine is in the air and I don’t know about you, but I’m ready to get decorating.
Here is a list of a few evergreen plants that make wonderful decorations for the season. You may even find some in your own backyard! Just make sure when you are removing foliage and fruit that you do it gently, so as not to harm the plant. Make all cuts at a 45 degree angle so that water will not pool on branch tips and rot. Also, if you forcefully remove foliage from a plant you could expose the susceptible cambium layer.
Wreaths and a decorated door frame add a bit of holiday cheer to this snowy scene. Photo courtesy Taylor Vandiver.
Traditional
Magnolia (Magnolia grandiflora) – This southern staple provides foliage that will liven up any banister or door frame. After being cut from the tree it can withstand the dryer temperatures indoors for days on end.
Hollies (Ilex spp.) – Hollies not only provide glossy green foliage, but bright red fruit that will beautifully adorn holiday arrangements and centerpieces.
Pine/Pinecones (Pinus spp.) – Pine trees offer a wispy presence to many decorations and their cones can give structure to wreaths and mantle pieces.
Boxwood (Buxus spp.) – Boxwoods are great for a touch of green.
Yaupon holly fruit and foliage. Photo courtesy UF/IFAS.
New Ideas
Abelia (Abelia x grandiflora) (evergreen to semi-evergreen) – Abelia are not commonly thought of when making holiday arrangements, but the texture of their foliage and the myriad of colors can spice up traditional decorations.
Aucuba (Aucuba japonica) – Aucuba offer a coarse texture that would pair well with the wispier pine foliage. Also, the gold dust variety will add a little more color to the mix.
Aspidistra (Aspidistra elatior) – Aspidistra foliage tends to feel more tropical. If you want to try a non-traditional arrangement these would work well and they can last for days provided a small amount of water.
Aspidistra foliage that could easily be worked into a stunning arrangement.
Remember that a few well placed planters can liven up even the smallest spaces. Try using a small evergreen tree or shrub such as a magnolia, cypress / false cypress or arborvitae and surround them with poinsettia or pansies. You can try a smaller planter and add in pine cones, poinsettia, grasses, etc. Also if you are celebrating this holiday season with a live Christmas tree, then don’t be afraid to ask the grower/retail center for discarded branches. These can easily be formed into a wreath or used throughout the house. And since this is Florida there’s always the option of decorating your palm tree!
