Poinsettia's at Pentland Plants
It's one of our favourite times of the year, when the nursery is full of colour with over fifty thousand home grown Poinsettia plants.
It is a little known fact that we at Pentland were one of the first nurseries in the UK to grow the now ubiquitous Poinsettia.
Poinsettias are part of the Euphorbia family and known as Euphorbia Pulcherrima. Joel Robert Poinsett introduced the plant to the US in 1928 He was a botanist, physician and the first US ambassador to Mexico.
In the early 60’s David Spray's Father, Joseph, read about them in an American journal and had some sent across from California. In those days we bought in dry woody plants which we coaxed back to life to produce cuttings. Today, with modern technology, we import soft green cuttings from Ethiopia.
In its native Mexico they are a wild plant growing up to 3 m and the coloured parts are not actually flowers but modified bracts or leaves. The actual flowers are the yellow cyathia in the centre and when it is in full flower you can see the bottle brush flower covered in pollen. We treat them with growth retardant and pinch them to keep them compact.
The cuttings arrive in July and are potted into 13cm pots in a very special open compost with lots of food and trace elements included. They are pinched to produce side shoots and spaced out regularly to give a good all round shape. They are grown in a warm, bright, draft free glasshouse and watered and fed until they change colour in November.
We supply garden centres accross the country with this wonderful plant, which comes in a variety of colours such as whites, pinks, variegated and burgundy.
Many people don't realise that they can actually be kept well after Christmas as a normal houseplant too! They make a lovely gift at this time of year, but also a nice treat to add a splash of colour to your home.
Join us on our FREE guided Poinsettia walks. Click here to book your place: https://www.pentlandplantsgardencentre.co.uk/events#moreevents
It is a little known fact that we at Pentland were one of the first nurseries in the UK to grow the now ubiquitous Poinsettia.
Poinsettias are part of the Euphorbia family and known as Euphorbia Pulcherrima. Joel Robert Poinsett introduced the plant to the US in 1928 He was a botanist, physician and the first US ambassador to Mexico.
In the early 60’s David Spray's Father, Joseph, read about them in an American journal and had some sent across from California. In those days we bought in dry woody plants which we coaxed back to life to produce cuttings. Today, with modern technology, we import soft green cuttings from Ethiopia.
In its native Mexico they are a wild plant growing up to 3 m and the coloured parts are not actually flowers but modified bracts or leaves. The actual flowers are the yellow cyathia in the centre and when it is in full flower you can see the bottle brush flower covered in pollen. We treat them with growth retardant and pinch them to keep them compact.
The cuttings arrive in July and are potted into 13cm pots in a very special open compost with lots of food and trace elements included. They are pinched to produce side shoots and spaced out regularly to give a good all round shape. They are grown in a warm, bright, draft free glasshouse and watered and fed until they change colour in November.
We supply garden centres accross the country with this wonderful plant, which comes in a variety of colours such as whites, pinks, variegated and burgundy.
Many people don't realise that they can actually be kept well after Christmas as a normal houseplant too! They make a lovely gift at this time of year, but also a nice treat to add a splash of colour to your home.
Join us on our FREE guided Poinsettia walks. Click here to book your place: https://www.pentlandplantsgardencentre.co.uk/events#moreevents
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