Making Spirits
BRIGHT
POINSETTIAS BRING A POP OF COLORFUL CHEER TO THE WINTER SEASON By Jessica Mozo
“No other plant brings so much color to the winter season. I like to add many poinsettias to my home and outdoors for holiday decorations,” says Tom MacCubbin, University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences Extension Agent Emeritus and host of the Better Lawns & Gardens radio show broadcast. “After the holidays, we add poinsettias to the landscape for winter color. I have been enjoying poinsettias most of my life, first in Maryland and now in Florida for more than 40 years.” While the traditional poinsettia is bright red, the flower comes in several other colors, too, including white, cream, pink, marble and bicolor. There are actually hundreds of red poinsettia varieties. 18
“We grow three different red varieties so we can time them to be available for different parts of the season,” says Craig Roth, president of Sunshine Growers Inc., a 25-acre wholesale plant nursery in Fort Meade. “Some are ready at Thanksgiving, others are ready the first of December and others later in December.”
GROWING POINSETTIAS Sunshine Growers starts growing poinsettias in July, and the first ones are ready to sell in October. “We start our poinsettia season with a Love You Pink variety that is the color of breast cancer awareness, and we sell that one in October,” Roth says. “Then for Thanksgiving, we grow two varieties that we paint with copper glitter paint so they have a fall look. Those are more apricot-colored, and they’re called Premium Ice Crystal and Viking Cinnamon. The copper glitter makes them look great for a Thanksgiving table.”
FLORIDAGRICULTURE | NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2020
PHOTO: ISTOCK.COM/JOHNROB
THE HOLIDAY SEASON is upon us, and many plant and flower enthusiasts agree it wouldn’t feel like the holidays without beautiful, red poinsettias.
