How did a tropical plant become an unlikely symbol of the Christmas holiday? The history of the poinsettia begins with an old Mexican legend and, later, a prominent American business venture. Discover the legend of the poinsettia!
You say poin-set-ee-uh, I say poin-set-uh—but let’s call the whole thing off because the name of the ubiquitous holiday plant can be pronounced either way.
America’s Favorite Holiday Flower
Aside from the Christmas tree itself, no plant symbolizes Christmas quite like the poinsettia. More than 2 million will be sold this year, making it the largest potted flower crop grown in the United States!
Over 100 varieties of poinsettias are available in shades of red, pink, white, and yellow—solids, streaked, marbled, and multicolored. It makes it hard to pick just one!
Why Are Poinsettias the Christmas Flower?
Native to Mexico, the plant is called Flor de la Noche Buena (Flower of the Holy Night) due to its resemblance to the Star of Bethlehem.
In their native region of southern Mexico, poinsettias flower during the winter season. It’s a perennial shrub that was once considered a weed and will grow 10 to 15 feet tall in the wild. The Aztecs used the poinsettia bracts to make a reddish-purple dye for fabrics and used the sap medicinally to control fevers. The colored “flowers” are specialized leaves called bracts, while the actual flowers are inconspicuous beads found in the center of the bracts.
According to Mexican lore, a young child, Pepita, did not have a gift for the baby Jesus at a Christmas Eve service. She was penniless, so all she could do was pick a bouquet of weeds to offer. The angels felt compassion for her plight. So, after Pepita set the flowers at the crèche of the nativity on Christmas Eve, the angels transformed the weeds into beautiful red flowers. This is why red and green are the colors of Christmas today.
https://www.almanac.com/poinsettia-christmas-story
Read the weather report for tomorrow ... meteorologist described what is blowing through the state as a “wicked” storm. Additionally, the dreaded “s” word appeared for the first time ... as the cold air filters in behind the storm, wet ‘snow’ at higher elevations & we hsve the Blue Ridge to traverse. Dagnabbit. I’ve decided to take mom’s little SUV - it has an all wheel drive function that kicks in on slippery roads & new tires. It also has a lower profile than the 2-wheel light-in-the-rear pickup & damaging high gusts of winds are also expected. Too bad the fabulous weather today isn’t happening tomorrow, too.
I expect to make great progress in the garden today! Golf cart ran well yesterday, the only fly in the ointment being it looks like a slow leak in the back left tire. I checked into options on the other golf cart when it had a flat tire: I can buy a whole new wheel/tire from the golf cart dealer or get my car mechanic to order a new tire & mount on the old wheel. I got the tire ordered, but surprisingly, that ended up being the more expensive option. This time. I am just buying a wheel/tire once pumping up the tire gets to be a pain.
The bluebirds were upset with me yesterday - they regularly hang out in the garden, sitting on my trellis which gives them a high vantage point. When I am working in the garden, they have to hang out somewhere else. Every time I haul a load, they are back & have to evacuate the premises temporarily.
The great horned owl was hooting the other night - I LOVE hearing that.
I only buy "fake" poinsettias and re-use them. I hated throwing them out, they do not grow well in my area.
Meanwhile, we've had such nice weather my paper whites are blooming - a bit early this year, bees love them:
My helpers are getting ready for a visit from Santa:
I really don’t care for poinsettias aesthetically at all....but that light pink one is beautiful!!!
This past week here in Central Missouri was generally pleasant. We had a couple days of shirt sleeve weather, and got a really nice rain Friday night.
The rainfall made it too wet to work on moving the last bit of dirt pile out of the garden so I worked on getting the driveway ready for bad weather. I added ~40 ton of crushed limestone and got it all nicely groomed. It could use that much again but it’s in good enough shape for now so I’ll wait until after the holidays to buy more. I’ve got 20 or so ton left on my pile but I like to keep some in reserve for emergencies.
The Kubota that we traded the little red Massey on is supposed to go into the dealer shop on Wednesday for fluids/filters change. Once it’s been serviced we just need to drop off the Massey and haul the Kubota home.
Add a jar of raspberry hot pepper jelly.
Surround w/ buttery Ritz crackers.
