A tradition withers
Cody Parthemer, left, and Adam Adgate work with flowers at Adgate’s Garden Center in Cortland. Adgate treats poinsettias to prevent white fl ies and other pests and uses growth regulators to keep the plants short, full and fluffy. The plants range in price from $10 to $24.
For some people, a holiday dinner table isn’t complete without the colorful presence of a poinsettia plant.
Others find this traditional Christmas centerpiece to be out of fashion or even downright unattractive and choose to forgo it as part of their festive d cor.
“We don’t sell as many poinsettias as we used to,” said Adam Adgate of Adgate’s Garden Center in Cortland. “It used to be our No. 1 seller for the entire year, but now it doesn’t even make the Top 10.”
Adgate said although poinsettias are still a popular Christmastime plant, various summer flowers, such as impatiens and geraniums, have eclipsed the poinsettia in annual selling power.
“Poinsettias are not as in fashion as they used to be, and many people don’t want to spend money on live plants at the holidays,” he said, adding, “My grandfather used to grow thousands of poinsettias from seed to sell every Christmas, but now we only grow about 500.”
Adgate said local churches purchase many of these plants.
“Individuals still come in to buy poinsettias, but a lot of what we sell goes to churches and other organizations for holiday displays.” Adgate’s sells red, white and pink poinsettia plants ranging in price from about $10 to $24.
“A lot of care goes into cultivating these plants,” Adgate said. “We use growth regulators to keep the plants short, full and fluffy, and we treat them to prevent white flies and other pests. All this goes into the cost of buying one.”
Adgate said most garden centers don’t grow poinsettias from seed like his grandfather did.
“That was the old-fashioned way to do it. Now most garden centers buy cuttings from growers in places such as Mexico and start cultivating the cuttings during late summer.” Adgate’s uses starter plants or plugs (a more established cutting).
Joyce Marrie, a manager at Kraynak’s in Hermitage, Pa., said Kraynak’s grows about 3,000 poinsettias in nine colors.
Kraynak’s puts a fresh spin on the potted poinsettia by combining poinsettias in arrangements along with other blooming plants.
“We sell a lot of combo pots and baskets that include things like poinsettias along with fresh pine, or cyclamens, or Christmas cactus, or houseplants,” she said. “We also dye some of the poinsettias and spray them with glitter. People tend to love these arrangements. It’s a way of updating a traditional plant.”
Like Adgate, Marrie said some people tend to think of poinsettias as outdated.
“But they aren’t just your grandma’s plant,” she said. “The traditional red poinsettia remains the most popular, and there are many ways to update the look. It’s always nice to have live plants around at the holidays.”
To keep a poinsettia fresh and lovely for Christmas Day and beyond, keep the soil moist but do not overwater.
Also provide the plant with sunlight and do not keep it in a location prone to blasts of hot or frigid air.
“If you care for them properly they can last until spring,” said Phil Wilhelm of Hartford Greenhouses in Hartford.
Like Adgate, Wilhelm said poinsettias are not as popular as they once were but remain the most well-known Christmas plant.
“I have grown fewer this year than in the past, but they are still in demand, especially among local churches,” Wilhelm said.
Rumored toxicity is another reason people sometimes shy away from bringing poinsettias into their homes.
“Some people fear that their pets will eat the plants and get sick,” Marrie said, “But I am not sure about how toxic they are.”
According to the Animal Poison Control Center’s website at http://www.aspca.org, poinsettias will indeed cause gastrointestinal irritation if ingested. Symptoms may include drooling, vomiting and/or diarrhea. However, the website asserts that plants are not the deadly flowers legend has made them out to be and will not cause fatalities.