How do you keep your poinsettia?
“Keep?” You might be one of those people who don’t keep their poinsettia at all. You toss it in the trash after December 25th and never give it another thought as to what it would take to keep it growing and get it to bloom again next Christmas.
“I try!” Perhaps you are one of those people who keep your poinsettia for a little while, watering it, tending to it, watching as one leaf after another drops off. At this point, you decide it isn’t as pretty a houseplant as you imagined. You give yourself credit for trying. It’s time to get an Easter lily anyway. Then you toss it out.
“I will, and maybe it will re-bloom!” Now that’s the spirit. Keep your poinsettia and see if you can get it to bloom again!
But there are so many stories and warnings online that make it seem as though this is an impossible feat.
But is it?
I’ll admit I’ve never kept a poinsettia long enough to try to get it to bloom again, but that’s changing this year since I read the advice offered by one of my lost ladies of garden writing, Daisy Thomson Abbott.
Daisy provided her advice in an article for the morning edition of The Minneapolis Tribune that came out December 31, 1932, titled “With a Little Care, You Can Keep Your Holiday Plants A Long Time.” The subtitle revealed, “Given Water, Food, Air, in Proper Amounts, They Will Stay With You Indefinitely – How to Treat Them So They Will Flower Again Next Christmas.”
Yes, I’m going to keep my poinsettia like it’s 1932.
Here’s my interpretation of Daisy’s advice.
Light: Daisy suggests a southern window and as much light as you can give your poinsettia. To ensure lots of light, you could put your poinsettia outside in the summertime as long as you bring it back indoors well before your predicted first frost.
Watering: Daisy says don’t ever let it dry out. This doesn’t mean you should keep the pot in the foil lining so the poinsettia sits in a pool of water. Just water it as you would other houseplants and let the water drain out of the bottom of the container each time.
Fertilizing: Daisy suggests using manure water for fertilizer and lots of it. I’m going to use an organic houseplant fertilizer.
Cutting back: Once it is done blooming, Daisy writes you should cut it back “almost to the ground.” Then, “Let it rest a while, with little watering, and it will throw up beautiful new green shoots.” I’ve never cut back any poinsettias I’ve kept for more than a few months. This might be the secret to getting it to bloom again, on the new growth.
Seems like pretty simple advice overall. I’m going to follow it and see what happens. (With one change. My poinsettia is in a lightweight plastic pot, an invention that came along in the late 1950s, I think. So I’m going to repot my poinsettia into a clay pot. I probably don’t have to, but I think it will be nicer if I do, so I will.)
Will my poinsettia re-bloom like it’s 1932? Maybe? Even Daisy admits that following her advice means “it will often rebloom again.”
Time will tell!
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