DMC Poinsettias are available throughout the winter holiday season with availability beginning at Thanksgiving.
Poinsettias are short-day plants—they require 14 hours of uninterrupted darkness to initiate bract coloration and blooming. In Western PA this naturally occurs in the fall season. In the greenhouse, we ensure that “short-days” start on October 1st in order to have a flowering Poinsettia for the holiday season.
Poinsettias are native to Mexico and South America. In these countries the plant can reach 10 feet in height. The brightly colored bracts are often mistaken for flowers. The true poinsettia flower is the small yellow cyathia in the center of the colored bracts. Contrary to popular belief, Poinsettias are not poisonous. In fact, the poinsettia sap has traditionally been used for medicinal purposes. The poinsettia was originally discovered by botany-loving physician, Joel Roberts Poinsett in 1828, but was developed into the traditional Christmas crop we know today by the Ecke family in California. Due to Paul Ecke and his family’s plant breeding efforts, the native 10 foot tall poinsettia tree is now a much more manageable sized plant.