Poinsettias and Living Christmas Trees After the Holidays

By Bob Chapman

Christmas trees and poinsettias seem to go together every year. Can you remember a holiday without the famous flower gracing the coffee table. And this year you purchased a living tree for the holidays, one that you can plant afterwards and admire for years afterwards.

But the holidays are over and just what can you do to preserve these wonderful plants and trees.

Poinsettias

Poinsettias make great houseplants. Their dark green leaves are attractive in their own right and you have the possibilities of forcing them to flower next Christmas.

Poinsettias are semi-tropical plants originally from Mexico.  They normally bloom in very early spring.

Poinsettias have been known and admired for years in the traditional red bracts (often mistaken for flowers, but are modified, protective leaves at the base of the poinsettia flowers) but commonly seen now are hybrids with double, white, yellowish, pink or marbled bracts.

To get the maximum enjoyment of your poinsettia give it moderately bright light, however poinsettias will tolerate low light conditions.

Poinsettias prefer moderately moist soil. Water your plant when the soil surface feels dry to the touch.

Your holiday plant prefers moderate temperatures 65-70 degrees in the daytime and 60-65 nights. Avoid excessively hot or cold areas.

Long-lasting poinsettias will benefit from periodic applications of fertilizer. Consider using water-soluble fertilizers such as Miracle-Gro or Schultz-Instant soluble plant food

Here's a simple schedule to follow that force your poinsettia to bloom next December.

To get your poinsettias to bloom next Christmas you need to cut off the reddish bracts (leaves) on St. Patrick's Day and repot them to a larger pot on Memorial Day.  Then cut the stems back 6 inches on Labor Day.  Starting in October you need to provide 14 hours of darkness each day.  Do this by hiding the poinsettia under a heavy, lightproof cardboard box or in a lightproof closet.  Put them under cover or in the closet at 4:00 P. M. every day, taking them out at daybreak.  Provide the poinsettia with 4-6 hours of sunshine daily until the bracts appear.  You should have a pretty plant during the holiday season.

If you live in a mild winter climate, you can plant your poinsettia outdoors, giving it a southern or western exposure. Poinsettias are somewhat rangy, growing to 12 feet tall on stiffly upright canes and about 6 feet wide. You can thin the branches in the summer to get larger bracts. Some gardeners have success pruning them back at two-month intervals for a bushy plant, however the bracts are smaller. To make the poinsettia bracts darker in color feed them every other week when the color begins to show with Superfine Lawn Fertilizer (a high-nitrogen fertilizer).

Living Trees

You can plant your living Christmas tree in a larger container and place it on the deck or the patio for year ‘round enjoyment, knowing that it will be larger the following Christmas. Trim it as needed to retain the shape and size. Thus your initial investment will be spread over many enjoyable Christmas seasons. 

No room for your tree in your garden?  Consider donating it to a school, a local park, or the city public works department. In addition to adding joy to your Christmas holiday, it will grace the public landscape for many years. You can always go back and visit your tree, reliving the precious moments when it was in your home.

Bob Chapman is a well-known professional gardener and landscape contractor. Currently retired, Bob now spends his time contributing many free-lance garden articles and columns, and is a much sought after lecturer and horticultural consultant.

Since 1987, Bob has appeared as a regular columnist for the San Jose Mercury News. Besides the Mercury, his writings have appeared in the San Diego Tribune, Sacramento Bee, Fresno Bee and the Times Newspaper Group. He is the 1991 winner of the Quill and Trowel Award of the Garden Writers Association of America for the best newspaper gardening article in North America.

Bob majored in Ornamental Horticulture at Cal-Poly, San Luis Obispo. He also served as a member of the Professional Gardeners Association.