Poinsettias are a sure sign of Christmas thanks to their bright red bracts and golden yellow flowers that stand out against their velvety green leaves. Poinsettias are the most important potted plant in the world because they remind people of the holiday season in December.
Read on to learn more about poinsettias for Christmas, their origins, how to care for one, and other traditional plants used during holidays.
Where Are Poinsettias From?
Poinsettias usually grow in Mexico and Central America in moist, humid, wooded ravines and on rocky hillsides. In other words, these plants are native to Mexico and Central America. It is also called Joel R. Poinsett after the American ambassador who went to Mexico in the late 1820s to spread the word about the plant and introduce it to the flower world.
Can Poinsettias Be Outside in Winter?
If your area drops below 50 degrees Fahrenheit (10 C.), there is a high risk of frost damage. The leaves of the poinsettias will fall off because they can’t handle the cold as well as they can in this range. If the plant is kept at temperatures of 50 F (10 C) or below for a long time, the whole root system will probably die. The plant can only be grown outside in the summer. As soon as there is a chance of frost, it should be brought inside.
How Do You Care for a Poinsettia Plant Indoors?
Since they can’t handle being too hot or too cold, poinsettias should be kept inside in indirect light. Six hours or more of natural or fluorescent light is the best amount. Keep them between 65 and 75 degrees, whether it’s day or night. When the temperature drops, they will stop growing quickly and lose their leaves. Learn more about growing plants indoors in our Indoor Garden Ideas for Apartments post, or find out the best lights to use for indoor plants in this post.
Are Poinsettias Poisonous to Pets?
Poinsettias provide a slight chance of harm to household pets and other animals. If your cat or dog likes to chew on plants or flowers around the house, you should keep poinsettias out of their reach. However, you should know that the plant isn’t likely a threat to pets like cats and dogs.
People often say that poinsettias are very dangerous plants, but this isn’t usually true. Even though there is no known treatment for poinsettia poisoning, you don’t need to go to the hospital unless the symptoms, such as diarrhea, drooling, vomiting, or loss of appetite, are severe or last a long time.
Most of the time, this can be fixed at home by keeping the poinsettias out of reach and keeping an eye out for Gastrointestinal problems. A pet might throw up once or twice before getting better. If the vomiting or any other symptoms keep happening or get worse, call a vet right away.
Why is the Poinsettia Used at Christmas?
Poinsettias are cheery and festive winter decorations that cannot be ignored. They don’t really have flowers; instead, they have bright leaves. They only grow in Central America, especially in the southern part of Mexico.
Why then do we think of them as Christmas decorations?
Based on a story that is told annually in Mexico, poinsettias are associated with the holiday of Christmas. A little girl named Pepita was sad on Christmas Eve because she didn’t have anything to give to the baby Jesus. In order to cheer her up, her cousin told her that Jesus would be happy with any gift she brought him, no matter how small.
Pepita didn’t have enough money to buy a good gift, so she picked out some weeds she saw on her way to church. (In other stories, an angel showed up and told her which plants to pick.) When she got there, she left the weeds at the base of the Nativity scene. The weeds turned into beautiful red flowers all of a sudden.
They started calling it the “Flowers of the Holy Night,” which is really what it means.
What Should I Do With My Poinsettia After the Holidays?
If you’re thinking about preserving the plant after the Christmas season, check out these tips on what you can do with your poinsettia once the holidays are over.
- Check on your poinsettias as you would during the Christmas season to make sure they are getting enough water.
- Take off any paper or decorative sleeves that are on the bases of the plants so you can water them without worrying about them standing in water.
- Place your poinsettias in a spot where they will get at least 6 hours of strong, direct sunlight every day.
- Around the middle of April, pinch the stems back to 6 to 8 inches and put the plants somewhere bright. When new growth starts, you can use a liquid fertilizer to make sure the plants have enough minerals, especially calcium.
- When the low temperature at night in spring is at least 50 degrees, you can put your poinsettias outside. After starting in the dark, move them to full light when they are used to it. Keep in mind that poinsettias are from Mexico and Guatemala, so they need lots of sun and warm temperatures to grow.
- Give your poinsettias a bigger pot so that their roots can grow deeper.
- If you want your poinsettias to bloom around Christmas, don’t prune them after September 1.
- When the low temperature at night is between 55 and 60 degrees, bring the plants inside and put them in a bright area.
- For your poinsettias to bloom in time for the holidays, they need 14 straight hours of darkness, followed by 6 to 8 hours of direct sunlight. This needs to start in October.
- If everything goes as planned, you’ll be able to enjoy poinsettias by the end of November, just in time for Christmas.
Christmas Plants Tradition and History
Holly
North America, Europe, and Asia are home to most of the world’s holly trees and plants. There are hundreds of different kinds of this plant, and the tallest ones can grow to be forty meters tall. This plant stands out because of its bright green leaves and bright red berries.
Holly (paid link) comes in both evergreen and leafless types. Evergreen plants have beautiful leaves that stay on the tree all year long, while deciduous plants sometimes lose their leaves. Most hollies are evergreens that do well in both sun and shade and in soil that drains well.
Holly’s pagan beliefs are hidden by mystery, myth, and superstition. During the winter, Druids, Celts, and Romans brought evergreen trees inside. They thought that if they kept their leaves, spring would come faster.
In Christianity, holly came to stand for Christ’s crown of thorns, his blood, and life after death because its leaves never die.
Even now, holly bushes are still used to decorate for Christmas. Gardeners and volunteers cut holly and other evergreens from estates to make garlands and wreaths for doors, banisters, mantels, and halls.
Mistletoe
Mistletoe is a plant that may be observed growing on trees. The seeds cling to a branch, grow inside of it, and get both nutrition and moisture from the branch. Following a period of three to five years, it will first produce green shoots, then leaves, and finally berries.
In a very short time, Christians adopted the ritual, which they then spread across Western Europe and made a staple of the Christmas season. It was traditional for couples to stand immediately under a “kissing branch” made from the plant and give each other passionate kisses. Throughout Britain, this practice became more popular in the 18th century.
According to one version of the ceremony, picking a fruit to consume after each kiss was necessary. People felt that the remaining mistletoe was a source of bad luck after all the berries had been eaten, so they hacked it down. Today, we see the plant as a symbol of how to welcome guests with kindness and care as well as a chance to sneak kisses from a partner.
Don’t forget to hang some mistletoe for luck when you put up your Christmas decorations and deck the halls for the season. Also, learn about the small shrub’s intriguing history and importance. You will have a joyful Christmas season if you do this.
Christmas Trees
The holiday season is not complete without a Christmas tree in the living room. Most families have a tradition of bringing an evergreen tree inside for the holidays, whether it is real or fake. Most like decorating the trees with lights and many other ornaments. Additionally, here is where Santa Claus often leaves his gifts. Gingerbread, candles, and other ornaments have been used to decorate Christmas trees since these objects were first put on a tree or “Christmas pyramid” to represent or resemble the birth of Jesus.
A Christmas tree is traditionally set up every year as part of a tradition that is followed by many homes and towns. Others were showing their decked Christmas trees and pyramids while distributing invitations to their Christmas performances on the life of Christ.
Nevertheless, as time went on, it became common for people to decorate their trees for their delight as opposed to the amusement of their neighbors.
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