Home & Gardens

Home & Garden Gardening...

...with botanist Dr Dave Aplin

Christmas seems to start earlier each year and, with speculation that some popular gifts will be in short supply and the need for companies to regain losses caused by the Pandemic, I am certain this year will be no exception. Garden centres opened their festive displays of merchandise weeks ago because it draws in the crowds when gardening appears to take a back seat from most people’s agenda. There is one botanical gift, however, that symbolises Christmas more than any other – the poinsettia. The poinsettia is bought, not for its flowers, but for its modified leaves called bracts. Bracts take on the role of petals as a visual attractant for less conspicuous flowers. In the case of poinsettia, the real flowers are insignificantly clustered at the growing points of the plant surrounded by these colourful bright red (other colours exist) leaves. Poinsettia, also know by its scientific name, Euphorbia pulcherrima, are native to dry tropical forests in Central America and Mexico where they can grow to over four meters in height. Despite the potential of this plant growing to tree-like proportions, festive poinsettias are treated, by most, as a seasonal plant often composted when their bright red colour fades. Occasionally some plants are composted a few days after purchase because plants wilt soon after getting them home. The most likely cause is that plants have been exposed to cold temperatures before purchase, so beware of buying them on market stalls and if they do wilt, demand a refund. Despite their tropical origins, poinsettias will reward for longer if placed in a room that doesn’t get too hot. If you successfully get your plant through to April, you may wish to make it a permanent feature. In this case, hard prune shoots during April and repot in May and place them in a light position. Resulting growth may be taller than your original plant, this is because commercial growers spray their plants with growth retardants to maintain a compact, uniform plant for sale. Growers also manipulate the day length plants are exposed to in order to hit the Christmas market. To do the same at home, ensure they receive 12 hours of darkness, away from artificial lights, from November onwards. The sap of poinsettias has been sensationally reported in the press as toxic. This is actually a myth. The British Medical Journal published an article highlighting no evidence to support this. Even experimental studies on rats failed to find a fatal dose despite giving these rodents concentrations equivalent to more than 500 leaves. Naturally, a few may encounter minor skin irritations when touching the sap but this can be true and worse for many plants much closer to home.

Poinsettia in the right direction

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Face the ‘consequinces’

Jo Green is a former allotmenteer, forager, amateur herbalist, pickler and jam maker who squeezed her allotment greenery into her tiny garden

I have had a crash course in quinces! A friend gifted me some which we picked together from the prickly tree which looked more like a bush to me. The fruit are yellowy green, gnarly and monstrously hard. Hard to core but when cooked with enough sugar they taste delicious! Researching I had found that making a paste or cheese called Membrillo with the pectin rich fruit (you only really have to give it a hard stare to get it to set!) is traditional in Spain. It is often eaten as a breakfast with Manchego cheese which I managed to obtain from a well-known supermarket. The more seeds, skin and core you get in the jam or membrillo mixture the darker the colour. In an alchemical feat I managed to create one pinky red jelly but most ended up a deep marmalade colour. Originally, marmalade was made from quinces and the English words marmalade come from the Portuguese word, ‘marmelada’ meaning ‘quince preparation’. The seeds, cores and skins are said to be very good for sore throats and potions are made by steeping these parts in boiling water and then straining and drinking as a tea with sugar. All I can say is it certaily worked on me. I saved some seeds to go in the freezer for three months to stratify, dreaming of sowing them in the spring for the start of my own Quince orchard. It felt good to give a pot of quince jam back to the friend who had gifted the raw fruit which you can see in the photo with the pencil sketch.

RESULT: Gifted jam and, inset, Membrillo pastePics: JO GREEN

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