I was told here in Houston we can plant our Poinsettias after Christmas in the garden and they make a lovely bush, the leaves turn red again in Christmas time. Has anyone done this? How big will they get? If you have pics I'd love to see it.
Lu
Plant Poinsettias in Garden??????????
I've seen huge ones (at least 7' high by 7' wide) in Rockport in full bloom at Thanksgiving. They will freeze here where I am.
I have done the poinsettias outside. I waited until the bracts were gone which was March or April. Then I cut the back until they were about 8-9" high and planted them in good soil on the SW side of the house, raised a bit so they wouldn't get really wet feet. As they grew I pinched them back so they would be bushy and kept them well fertilized w/a 21-7-14 type feed. (That's a 3-1-2 ratio.) About the middle of Oct. I fed them for the last time and then covered them w/a cardboard box so no light got to them to force them to form bracts that turn red eventually. I kept peeking at them until I could see they were about to turn which was about 6 weeks. They turned beautifully and bloomed as they are supposed to You DO have to protect them from too much water and frosts and freezes. If they live for you they will really get a good root system and you can stop caring for them so much and really ignore them. They will grow very high - 10-12' or so, die back but come up from the roots again. They don't like too much water and do like heat so if you have a green house you could try them in there. Good luck! You will never know what you can do until you do it and if you have the plant you might as well try it: you have nothing to lose and a lot to gain if it all works.
Ann
Lu,
They are highly poison to animals so make sure you locate it in area where your pets cannot get to it.
Terrie
I found that they are toxic to people and animals but not really poisionous because of the taste. There are many plants that you don't want to come in contact with. Among these are tomato leaves, berries of certain plants that birds can eat but not 2 legged animals or 4 footed ones. The list is practically endless.
Ann
I have a co-worker that says her Mom plants them outside in Fort Worth!! They are in a somewhat sheltered area, but come up every year. So she takes all of our old Poinsettias for her Mom.
I kept mine from a year ago and had them outside all summer.
Brought them back inside when it started to get cold and put them
in the bay window. Didn't bother to do the light/dark cycle, just
watered them and rotated them once a week. Well, they bloomed
like crazy all of December and are now about 30 inches high.
I'm gonna plant them against the fence and inside the yard.
They will be facing West and sheltered from the winds on two sides.
Thanks for the idea. I would never have thought of it.
I was given two potted poinsettias for Christmas, if someone wants them they are available.
Josephine.
Frostweed, if you can keep those poinsettias alive until the next RU, I would be so happy to take them off your hands or just one if someone wants the other.
This is full of a bunch of "ifs" but I am hoping that we have an RU that we can drive to that is not very far away. The CS location was ideal for us old folks.
Ann
O.K. I will reserve then for you Ann.
Josephine.
Thx, Josephine!
Ann