Planting the Christmas Poinsettia

One of the many fun things about Christmas is the unique decorations you get to place around your home. If you like to place traditional plants around your house, you probably love getting poinsettias at that time of year. Poinsettias are bright and beautiful flowers that really bring in the Christmas season, but once the winter months are over, you may wonder what to do with your poinsettia. Consider planting it outside, and then you can keep your poinsettia all year long.

If you decide to plant your poinsettia, remember that they do not like cold weather very much, so wait until the frosts have gone. The temperature should not reach much below fifty-five degrees Fahrenheit at night. Before you plant your poinsettia outside, make sure to cut back the faded red bracts. This will give it the best chance of growing anew.

When choosing the location to plant your poinsettia, keep in mind these few tips. Like most other plants, poinsettias like moist, well-drained, rich soil. For the best results, find a location that does not suffer from flooding, since you can add fertilizer and water to meet the other requirements. Also, remember that poinsettias like lots of sunlight during the day, but should not receive too much artificial light at night. It may be hard to find a location that fits this description in the city, but do your best.

Once you have planted your poinsettia, cover it with mulch or straw to conserve moisture. Be sure to water it regularly, and feed it fertilizer every two to three weeks or so with a nice, well balanced fertilizer during the growing season. The poinsettia should start flowering around August, and should come into full bloom about November or December.

It can be extremely difficult to make it come into bloom right at Christmas without a controlled environment, since the poinsettias need to have fourteen hours of darkness starting at the very beginning of October. Even if it comes into bloom sooner, you will have a beautiful plant in your garden, and you may even feel the Christmas spirit come in earlier that year.