A Huge Poinsettia I Received Last Christmas Is Still Growing!

I received a huge Poinsettia as a gift to enjoy during the Christmas season. I don't think you will find this size Poinsettia for sale in stores. This one was purchased from a local grower who owns a Poinsettia nursery. He loads up his van each year with his plants, and goes around to businesses in our area to sell them.

Here it is Spring 2012, and this beauty is still growing. I am told if I plant it in a shady place, it will continue to grow and I can enjoy it again this next Christmas. I will get brave one day and put it in the ground.

The legend of the Christmas Poinsettia is that in Mexico many years ago, a little boy and girl had no money to buy a gift to bring to the Christmas festival in their town. As part of the festival, a scene had been created to depict the birth of Christ. Statutes of Mary were there, and a manger had been placed to celebrate the birth of Christ. Everyone in the little town was expected to bring a gift for this occasion, and the gift would be placed at the base of the manger. This little boy and girl had no money to buy the expected gift. When the boy and girl got to the scene, they each gathered up a handful of weeds to make a small bouquet. They dug a little hole in the ground at the base of the manger, and they stuck the weeds into the ground. All of a sudden, the weeds turned into beautiful red star shaped flowers. So, from then on, this flower has been known as the Christmas flower. Everyone knows what a Poinsettia looks like. It is one of the most beautiful blooming plants there is. Just to look at one makes you feel like Christmas.

One of my daughters came by after work yesterday to bring me a Poinsettia. Every Christmas season, a local Poinsettia grower brings his plants to sell. He goes around in his van that is loaded with the plants he has grown. My daughter always buys one for her business, and one for me. Now, we are seeing many of these beautiful plants everywhere to bring in the Christmas season. The ones you see in the stores are cute little plants that are about 12 inches high and maybe eight inches across.

The Poinsettias this grower sells are huge. When I first got the plant and before I removed the protective plastic wrap, I measured it. The plant was 19 inches across. After I removed the wrapping, the plant measured 32 inches across. It is 30 inches tall. Now, that’s almost three feet high!

I placed an Ivory statute beside the Poinsettia just to show how tall it is. The statute is 12 inches tall.

The first few years she bought a plant for me, I would place the Poinsettia outside on my front porch. I wanted my neighbors and friends to see it. Since the plant is very fragile, and breaks very easily, I’d be careful where I placed it. I found out that even a slight wind would knock it over and it would break.

One year I placed it on the ground and drove a pole down through the plant and into the ground. That was not good for the plant because the pole went through the root. This year I have decided to put the Poinsettia on a table on the screen porch, out of the wind. I would like to keep the plant inside my house on the floor during the holiday season, but I have a small Miniature Schnauzer. The sap from these plants is toxic to dogs.

I received a Poinsettia last Christmas, and after it had finished blooming I put it in my “plant graveyard”, and forgot all about it. I was so surprised a couple of weeks ago to see that the plant is going to bloom is thriving and will bloom again. Some people where I live plant these directly into the ground and they live. There are things you have to do to force the plant to bloom again. It has to be covered starting in the fall, and then uncovered as the Christmas season is near.

We will enjoy this gorgeous Poinsettia all through the Christmas holidays. After it finishes blooming, I will place it again my “graveyard’, and hope that it will bloom again. If I just forget all about it, and hope for the best, I’ll bet it will bloom next year again.

Have you ever seen a Poinsettia this large?

Well, it is now the end of September, and the Poinsettia is still very large and green. I do believe it will bloom again at Christmastime. I am keeping my fingers crossed!