Estabrook's Garden Newsletter

Poinsettia Care Guide

Avoid overwatering your poinsettias and they'll serve as a wonderful holiday accent

No houseplants get your home into the holiday spirit like poinsettias. Perfect for filling practically any space with festive color, poinsettias will brighten cold winter days as long as you follow these simple care guidelines:

Placement

Place your poinsettia in a room with sufficient natural light. If you can comfortably read fine print using only the present light, the room is generally okay. You should also avoid drafts or excess heat from appliances.

Cooler room temperatures will prolong the color intensity of your plant's bract color, so do your plants a favor by keeping the room temperature between 60 and 72 degrees.

Watering

Appropriate watering of your poinsettia is critical and often the cause of problems. Water your plant thoroughly when the soil surface is dry to the touch. For a typical plant in a 6" pot, this might be a 8 oz glass of water twice a week. Overwatering is often responsible for more deaths than underwatering, so only apply water when it is needed.

Please note that the popular 'Winter Rose' variety is extremely sensitive to overwatering. At Estabrook's, we grow this specific cultivar in a clay pot to minimize watering mishaps. Please pay special attention to providing it with appropriate water levels.

Aftercare

When the holidays are over, it doesn't mean it's the end of your poinsettias. When the bracts age and become muddy green, you can cut the plant back to 8" and grow it as a foliage plant. It can even be placed outside when temperatures warm up. For maximum success, fertilize with balanced nutrients once or twice during the season.

In early fall, return the plant inside and provide it with 12 or more hours of continuous darkness for 3 weeks. With proper care, your poinsettia will produce colored bracts again!

Sprucing Up Your Window Boxes

Dress up your containers this year with some holiday cheer

Windows boxes and annual planters that were once filled with spring flowers don't have to sit dormant during the holidays. With just a few supplies and some imagination, they can look just as festive as the rest of your holiday home.

Here are a few tips to get you started:

1. Bring smaller planters and window boxes indoors so the soil is thawed and can be worked with.
2. Use fir boughs, pine boughs and winterberry twigs and stick them in the soil of the thawed container.
3. Stick fir and pine first and then dress up with the winterberry twigs.
4. Use a bow and cones to add holiday cheer to your arrangement.

Projects like this are a fun way to see what you can create while utilizing the window boxes and planters you already have. In addition to the ingredients listed above, we also offer a dashing collection of West Coast greens and dozens of ribbon styles that can add even more texture and flare to your winter arrangement.

If you don't have time or feel a bit challenged when it comes to these tasks, you can always bring your containers to us and our talented designers can dress them up for you. We also make wreaths, centerpieces and many other custom holiday decorations.