Selecting a Poinsettia
By Velda | December 10, 2010
We are just a few days until Christmas, do you have your Calgary Christmas Flowers yet? Velda’s Grower Direct is your local Calgary Florist and we thought we would share some information on selecting the right poinsettia for your home or Calgary business.
- Select plants with dense, plentiful foliage all the way to the soil line. An abundance of rich green foliage is a sign of a good healthy plant. Avoid waterlogged soil, particularly if the plant appears wilted. Such a condition could be a sign of root rot.
- Choose plants with fully coloured and expanded bracts. Although many mistakenly think that these bracts are the flower petals, the actual flowers are the tiny yellow clusters found at the centre of the bracts (Bracts are simply leaves masquerading as petals). Avoid plants with too much green around the bract edges, as this is a sign of a plant having been shipped before being allowed to sufficiently mature.
- Avoid plants displayed in paper, plastic or mesh sleeves, or plants that are tightly crowded in a sales display. Poinsettias need space, and the longer a plant remains sleeved, the more the plant quality will suffer. Crowding plants can cut air flow and cause premature bract loss or other problems.
- Generally a plant should be 2 1/2 times taller than the diameter of the container it is potted in. This proportion of plant height and shape relative to container size is the key to an aesthetically pleasing poinsettia.
Our staff at Velda’s wishes you a very Merry Christmas…and don’t forget your flowers.
Topics: Christmas | No Comments »
Calgary Florist Sale – Saturday & Sunday ONLY!!! 20% off fresh flowers
By Velda | December 9, 2010
Don’t miss out on this special opportunity! Happening this Saturday, December 11 & Sunday, December 12, 2010. Velda’s Grower Direct has a cooler FULL of bouquets, vases & baskets! Offer only valid on product taken on Saturday & Sunday.
Velda’s Calgary Flower Shop is located at 4606 17 AVE SE CALGARY, AB. Give them a call at 403 569 2023 if you have any questions.
Don’t forget, flowers make a wonderful table centrepiece. Let Velda’s design an amazing piece for your special holiday gatherings. Velda’s Grower Direct is a member of FTD. So, sending flowers to your family across the world is not a problem for them. Call for more information.
Topics: Calgary Flowers | No Comments »
Poinsettia Trivia and Fun Facts
By Velda | December 6, 2010
Your Calgary Flower Shop would like to share some fun facts about poinsettias. After all it is the Christmas season and nothing says Season’s Greetings like a Christmas poinsettia. Don’t forget to contact your Calgary Florist during the holiday season.
The flowers of a poinsettia are the small, cup-like structures called cyathia at the center of the red “petals,” not the red “petals” themselves. These are actually modified leaves called bracts.
The poinsettia goes by a number of names in different countries:
- In Spain as “Flor de Pascua”, meaning Easter Flower
- In Mexico and Guatemala as “Noche Buena”, meaning Christmas Eve.
- In both Chile and Peru, the plant is known as “Crown of the Andes”
- In Egypt it is referred to as “Bent El Consul”, “the consul’s daughter”, referring to the first U.S. ambassador to Mexico, Joel Poinsett.
In the United States, December 12 is National Poinsettia Day. This official day has been observed since the mid-1800s. It honors the man and the plant he introduced. Poinsett died Dec.12, 1851.
Big Spring, Texas is known as the “lighted poinsettia capital”.When the Comanche Trail Festival of Lights began the dam at the big spring held four huge poinsettias made of construction rebar welded together in the shape of a poinsettia flower, each was made up of 5 leaves. The leaves were decorated with red Christmas lights. The four poinsettia flowers present anyone entering Big Spring from the south with an incredible sight. In succeeding years more flowers were added to the dam and inside the park until Comanche Trail Park has a total of eleven lighted flowers on the dam and countless flowers inside the park, making Comanche Trail Park the Christmas Poinsettia capital.
The Ecke family of Encinitas, California, had a virtual monopoly until the 1990′s on commercially grown poinsettias owing to a technological secret that made it difficult for others to compete. However, in the 1990s, a university researcher discovered the method and published it, opening the door for competitors to flourish. Yet even today The Paul Ecke Ranch in California grows over 80 percent of poinsettias in the United States for the wholesale market and about 90% of all the flowering poinsettias in the world originated there.
Would you believe that last year more than 65 million were sold in the United States? Poinsettias accounted for one-third of sales of all flowering potted plants. In economic terms, that’s $237 million out of a total of $781 million in sales of all flowering potted plants! An even more amazing statistic when you consider that the vast percentage of poinsettias are sold within a six (6) week period each year!
Red is still the most popular color, accounting for roughly three-quarters of all sales nationwide, followed by white and pink. Poinsettias come in a variety of colors from red, salmon, and apricot to yellow, cream, and white. There are also unusual speckled or marbled varieties like “Jingle Bells” and “Candy Cane” with several colors blended together. New varieties are introduced yearly with even more variation in height and colors.
In the wild, the poinsettia can reach heights of 12 feet with leaves measuring six to eight inches across.
Poinsettias are generally priced according to the number of blooms. The more blooms, the more expensive the plant.
According to the University of Illinois, 80% of poinsettias are purchased by women, and 75% of Americans prefer red poinsettias to white.
There over 110 varieties of poinsettia varieties to choose from.
In 1992, the poinsettia was included on the list of houseplants most helpful in removing pollutants from indoor air. So it seems they add more than just colour to a home or office at Christmas.
Topics: Christmas | No Comments »
Why poinsettias and Christmas?
By Velda | December 1, 2010
Poinsettias (Euphorbia pulcherrima) are originally native to an area known as Taxco del Alarcon in Southern Mexico. The plant was cultivated by the Aztec Indians who referred to it in their language as Cuitlaxochitl (from cuitlatl=residue, and xochitl=flower) meaning “flower that grows in residues or soil. The colourful bracts were used by the Aztecs to make a reddish purple dye and a a fever medicine was derived from the poinsettia’s milky sap (known today as “latex”).
The plant’s association with Christmas appears to have began in 16th century Mexico, where a legend tells of a girl who was too poor to offer a gift for the celebration of Jesus’ birthday. The story relates that the girl was inspired by an angel to gather weeds and place them in front of the church altar. Bright crimson “blossoms” sprouted from the weeds and became beautiful poinsettias. After the Spanish conquest and the introduction of Christianity, poinsettias began to be used in Christian rituals. During the 17th century, Franciscan friars in Mexico used the plants in their Christmas celebrations. The star-shaped leaf pattern is said to symbolize the Star of Bethlehem, and the red colour represents the blood sacrifice through the crucifixion of Jesus.
Poinsettias were first introduced into the United States by Joel Robert Poinsett (1799-1851) who served in the South Carolina and U.S. Houses of Representatives and was appointed as the first U.S. Ambassador to Mexico. Poinsett although having attended medical school had a deep passion for the science of botany. Poinsett had plants sent to his home in South Carolina where he maintained hothouses and he began propagating the poinsettia plants. Later he distributed plants to horticultural friends and botanical gardens. Mr. Poinsett is also known for founding the institution which we know today as the Smithsonian.
The poinsettia has a history with the American public. In the 1830′s, the future Christmas plant’s popularity spread throughout America. The poinsettia’s original scientific name euphorbia pulcherrima, or “very beautiful, ” did not suit the adoring public. “Painted leaf” and “Mexican fire plant” sufficed until the plant was named poinsetta pulcherrima, or “poinsettia”, in honor of Ambassador Poinsett. Congress even deemed December 12 National Poinsettia Day to commemorate the date of Poinsett’s death.
In the 20th century the Ecke family of California has been instrumental in the development of today’s poinsettia which bears an entirely different appearance than those cultivated by the Aztecs or Mr Poinsett. Poinsettias in nature will develop and grow with a somewhat weedy open appearance, the Eckes’ developed a grafting technique to get every seedling to branch, resulting in a bushier plant.
Initially poinsettias lasted only a few days in the home. All had red bracts. Today’s varieties are more compact, durable, and long-lasting. Red, pink, white, gold, marbled, and variegated varieties are now available. When sending flowers for Christmas, poinsettias can delivered earlier in the festive season than a Christmas flower arrangement and with a little care will last for months.
When you need your Christmas Flowers call the team at Velda’s for your Calgary Christmas Flowers.
Topics: Christmas | No Comments »