Now in flower shops there is such a choice of ornamental plants, including exotic ones, hailing from the tropics that it’s fit to get lost. But to buy an attractive flower is half the battle; I want to extend his life as long as possible after the purchase. And for this we need information: about the care, transplant, features and requirements of the plant. Fortunately, there are no problems with this either.
Poinsettia Essentials
Poinsetia is an ornamental plant native to Mexico and Central America. Generally speaking, in natural conditions it is an evergreen shrub from the family of euphorbia up to 3 m high. In the middle lane, it is grown at home, in pots. Poinsetia at home rarely grows above 50 cm. This plant has other names, such as: euphorbia, euphorbia most beautiful or beautiful, Christmas or Bethlehem star. In European countries and America, this flower is considered one of the symbols of Christmas: it is widely used to decorate holiday tables, temples, halls of shopping centers. Impressive Christmas tree pyramids are built from pots with blooming poinsettia. This euphorbia is irreplaceable in various festive flower arrangements and Christmas wreaths.
Such flattering names and specific application of the plant received due to its spectacular appearance during the flowering period. No, his flowers are just completely inconspicuous, small, yellowish-green, but a bright rim of leaves around them, designed to attract insects for pollination, is beyond praise. These leaves are called bracts, they are located around inflorescences in the shape of a star, and this unusual plant blooms on Catholic Christmas - hence its name. Poinsetia (photo below) is an elegant and festive plant due to its bright stars on the background of elongated serrated leaves of a deep dark green color.
Varieties of poinsetia
There are several dozen different types of poinsetia. Thanks to the efforts of breeders, many varieties of literally all conceivable shades have been bred: white, cream, lemon, all tones of pink and red, orange, blue. Including bicolor bracts are found - with streaks and impregnations, with a gentle "dusting". There are varieties with an unusual arrangement of bracts that create a terry effect. If you are interested in poinsettia, photos of many varieties are easy to find in directories. True, making a choice between varieties is not an easy task, this flower is so good and unusual.
It is clear that connoisseurs and lovers of houseplants who have acquired this flower will certainly want to know how to make poinsetia bloom precisely by Christmas. And since this plant is thrown away after flowering, as is sometimes done in the West, Russian flower growers are unlikely to want to, other information will not be superfluous: about leaving, breeding, watering, transplanting. Well, let's get started.
Flower care
When purchasing poinsetia in a store, it should be borne in mind that she does not like large temperature drops. This plant is tropical, temperature below 12º for it is generally destructive. So the first thing to do is to make sure that the flower does not suffer during transportation home. At home, the flower needs to be settled somewhere. This is where the information that Thu even loves bright lighting is useful, but it should be scattered, so that it is better to protect it from direct sunlight at least by means of a curtain. Drafts of poinsettia are contraindicated, in this it is capricious.
As for watering, in summer it is needed plentiful, and spraying - regular, the flower loves moisture. In autumn and winter, you can water the plant sparingly, and during rest after flowering, even less often. With sharp fluctuations in temperature, the leaves of the poinsetia can turn yellow and fall, and this should also be remembered. She will not feel comfortable and at an elevated temperature in the room - more than 25º.
Features of flowering poinsetia
If the owner of the plant in time worries about how to make poinsetia bloom by the end of December, so that, along with Christmas tree garlands, it serves as a decoration at home, this will certainly happen, as there are specific instructions for that. The fact is that under natural conditions, poinsetia prepares for flowering with a short daylight and a long night. Therefore, it is necessary to imitate for her these conditions artificially. In late September, with the onset of the evening, you need to completely protect the plant from artificial lighting, covering it with dark polyethylene, some opaque container or simply moving it to a completely dark place. In total, during the day the flower should be out of the light for about 12 hours or a little more.
This mode, close to the real conditions of plant development, contributes to the fact that poinsettia first forms flower buds, and then produces bright bracts. The darkening should be as complete as possible, otherwise the bracts will not be evenly colored, and spots will appear on them. Usually, eight weeks of this content is enough for the plant to bloom for the New Year holidays, and you can go on to the usual content of the plant.
In general, this is an interesting experience for lovers of home decorative plants: not only to ensure proper care for the flower, but also to know how to make poinsettia blossom exactly when the owner wants it.
Rest period
Blooming poinsettia pleases with its spectacular bright stars of the owners throughout January and part of February. Then she needs peace. When the bracts withered, and the lower leaves began to fall naturally, you need to cut off all the stems, leaving only a third of the bush in height in the pot, and remove it in a dark place. Watering should be done so that the earth does not dry out at all - that is, rarely. In April, the rested poinsettia indoor is ready for the new season. They put it on the most lighted and warmest windowsill, waiting for the appearance of fresh shoots and pouring a little warm soft water.
Transfer
In the spring, after new leaves have appeared, the plant can be transplanted into a larger pot, arranging good drainage and choosing loose soil. How to care for poinsettia after transplantation? Provide her with abundant watering and spraying, cut the shoots for branching and forming a bush of the desired shape. 10-12 days after transplantation, the plant should be fed with mineral fertilizer, and repeated feeding every two weeks until autumn. How to make the poinsettia bloom next Christmas, we already know.
Breeding
If poinsetia is very fond of, its reproduction is quite real. This is done by cuttings. Usually at least 3 of the strongest shoots are left on the bush, and the rest must be cut off. Here you can cut the cuttings with 4-5 leaves from them. By the way, when cutting poinsetia, you must remember that its juice, like all milkweed, can cause skin irritation. Therefore, it is better to wear gloves. This milky juice must be washed off with warm water from the slices until it ceases to stand out. After this, the cuttings are rooted either in water or immediately in loose soil. It is better to arrange a greenhouse for them, covering with a transparent container, watering and spraying daily. After a month, it is usually possible to plant the plants in pots, but they are unlikely to bloom in the same year, it takes time for the young poinsetia to grow stronger.
Interesting Facts
There is information that poinsetia was known to the Aztecs, who used its juice for medicinal purposes. From their leaves, they also extracted dye for fabrics. Several legends are connected with poinsettia, the essence of which is that children modestly brought this infant plant a gift to the baby Christ, and only then it suddenly bloomed with bright colors.
The plant was brought to Europe from America by travelers in the 19th century, and there it became popular due to its peculiarity to bloom in winter, in the coldest weather. The name of the flower was given in honor of the American ambassador to Mexico, J. R. Poinsett. He, in addition to politics, was also fond of botany, traveled a lot and was engaged in the search and collecting of unusual plants.