Pet Safety

Simple ways to prolong the life of poinse ias Poinsettias and their rich red, white or variegated prefer a room temperature between 60 and 68 color schemes are the ideal backdrop for Christ- F during the day and 10 degrees cooler at night. mas celebrations. In fact, poinsettias are among Humidity levels between 20 and 50 percent are the most popular decorative owers during the ideal. Group plants on water- lled trays full of holiday season. pebbles to help increase humidity levels. According to the 2013 USDA Floriculture · Place near sunlight. e United Kingdom-based Statistics report, poinsettias accounted for about Perrywood oral company advises placing poinone-quarter (23 percent) of all owering potted settia plants near a bright windowsill but not in plant sales that year. Roughly 34 million poinset- direct sunlight. Do not let a poinsettia touch cold tia plants are sold in a given season. Indigenous window panes. to Central America, the plant was introduced to · Avoid drafts. e plants are sensitive to drafts North America in the 1820s when Joel Roberts and changes in temperature. So it’s best to keep Poinsett, the rst United States Minister to Mex- poinsettias away from drafty doors, windows, ico, brought the red-and-green plant back with radiators, or replaces. him from a trip abroad. · Don’t drown the roots. Wait until the surface of While millions of poinsettias will be purchased the compost dries out before watering the plant for the holiday season, many mistakenly think anew. Also, the decorative foil wrapper that covers their utility ends once New Year’s Day has come pots can trap water and lead to root rot. Remove it and gone. But with proper care poinsettia plants or poke holes in the bottom to allow for drainage. can continue to thrive and bring warmth and · Cut back plants. Come mid-March, cut back the beauty to a home long after the holiday decora- plant by half to encourage new shoots, suggests tions have been tucked away. the University of Illinois Extension. e plants · Choose a hearty plant. Experts with the Univer- also can be placed outside in the spring after the sity of Vermont Extension Department of Plant risk of frost has passed. Bring poinsettias back in and Soil Science say that many people mistake the around mid-September to early October to force plant’s leaves for its owers. e red, white or pink plant’s leaves for its owers. e red, white or pink them to bloom again. them to bloom again. bracts are actually modi ed leaves. e owers of bracts are actually modi ed leaves. e owers of the plant are the yellow clustered buds in the centhe plant are the yellow clustered buds in the center called “cyathia.” Choose poinsettia plants that ter called “cyathia.” Choose poinsettia plants that have buds which are, ideally, not yet open. have buds which are, ideally, not yet open. · Keep the temperature consistent. Poinsettias · Keep the temperature consistent. Poinsettias