Launch!

Poinsettias are here.

You're thinking... poinsettias? Aren't those Christmas flowers?

Yep. But they have to grow somewhere. And they take six months to grow and bloom properly. Our site got the cuttings in July; my greenhouse gets the transplanted rooted cuttings and grows them until we either sell them all or get sick of them and stomp on....um.... I mean, until the holiday season's over. Yeah, that's right.

Poinsettias are susceptible to every plant disease known to man, and then some. They attract insects. They get mold, mildew, and scab. They are incredibly sensitive to environmental changes, which is why even though it's been hot as heck in the GH, we've discussed turning on the floor heat at night already. They get too tall, or stay too short, requiring numerous amounts of growth regulators to keep 'em short or shoot them up. It's like Alice and her mushrooms. They need calcium supplements, salt supplements, fertilizer supplements, and possibly One-A-Day vitamins... not sure about that last one but I wouldn't doubt it. Couldn't hurt, anyway.

There is this widespread myth that poinsettias are poisonous. They aren't. Not to humans and most animals, anyway. Might make your cat or your toddler a bit ill, if they ate a bunch of them, but you could have poinsettia hors d'oeuvres at a cocktail party and be more likely to get salmonella from the chicken pate' than die from poinsettia consumption. I wouldn't recommend it, however; I know what we spray on those things. I'd rather play poinsettia bowling than actually eat one. (P-bowling is a great way to release frustration at the end of the year. Due to the shape of the pots, it requires a wicked curve to win.)

I hate poinsettias. Really I do. This year I'm going to put Operation Poinsettia Launch into effect, and see how far I can hurl a six-inch pot using a bicycle tube tied between two posts. INCOMING!!!!! Thwannnngggg..... I feel better already. ;-P