Recently we talked about mistletoe and how it became a favorite Christmas decoration. This week let’s talk about poinsettias since many of us have them in our homes and are not sure what to do with them now. Yes, you can keep your poinsettia for next season, but there are some things you will need to do to get them to bloom like the plant that came to you from the nursery.

To find out how this beautiful plant made its way to the United States, we must go back to the 1800’s when the first U.S. Ambassador to Mexico fell in love with the plant and brought them north. In Mexico, poinsettias are perennial and can grow to between 10 and 15 feet in height. Here’s they won’t survive our winters outdoors to be able to do the same.

December 15^th was National Poinsettia Day which was the day on which Mr. Poinsette died in 1851. We must share Mr. Poinsette’s affection for the poinsettia since each year there are about $250 million dollars in poinsettia sales.

While we tend to say we love the red flowers on poinsettias, the “red flowers” are actually specialized leaves called bracts. In the center of the red bracts, you can find the actual flower of the poinsettia.

If you loved your poinsettia, here’s what you need to do to not only keep the plant alive until next year, but to also coax it into blooming again.

After the first of the year, fertilize your poinsettia with an all-purpose plant fertilizer and keep it in a place indoors that gets good sunlight. Or you could purchase a grow light to help meet its light needs.

Since poinsettias can get kind of leggy, plan on trimming it back mid-February to about 5 inches in height. Then in the middle of March, remove all the dry and faded parts of the plant.

Once the danger of a frost is over (maybe wait till mid-May), you can move the plant outdoors to a location where it will get full sun. Once again, trim the branches to about 2 to 3 inches in length. With plant growth, you will probably need to re-pot the plant to a larger pot. Continue to water and fertilize on the schedule recommended by the fertilizer you are using.

Sometime in late September or early October, bring your poinsettia back indoors to a sunny location. Now comes the part where you will be coaxing it into blooming. The plant will need to rotate between light and absolute darkness each day for those specialized leaves to begin developing their red color. Basically, you’ll need to move the plant to the closet or something like a closet each night and then bring it back out into the light each morning. With any luck, your poinsettia should look like the one from the previous Christmas season by Thanksgiving. Good luck.

You can get answers to all your gardening questions by calling the Tulsa Master Gardeners Help Line at 918-746-3701, dropping by our Diagnostic Center at 4116 E. 15th Street, or by emailing us at mg@tulsamastergardeners.org. Photo: Joy Viola, Northeastern University, Bugwood.org