I haven't done my research. I have no idea where poinsettia plants come from, or why they are tied to Christmas. I DO know that the red flowers are actually leaves, and that they need hours of darkness in order to propagate, but they hate cold, and they hate dry. Enter Midwest weather which is cold outside and dry inside. I also know that they are poisonous to pets, which is a good reason for households with critters not to have the plants. Yeah...that's my story for not sending them to others at holiday time.
God bless me, I've never met a poinsettia I couldn't kill. Understand that every time I ever received one, it was my full intention to keep this one alive. To my knowledge, I've never actually purchased one for myself. I did, however, after some personal experience, buy a realistic-looking fake poinsettia to have in the house for festivity. Still, over the years, I have been given poinsettias as special gifts, and as much as I love the silly things, I groan inside because I know it will soon drop leaves and die, no matter what I do. I can (and have) grown just about any kind of vegetable that can sprout in the Midwest. I know quite a bit about local houseplants--and even some outside perennials--as long as all they need is occasional food, water, and trimming. But poinsettias? Yeah...no. For this reason, and this reason alone--saving myself from feeling like a plant murderer--I stay away from poinsettias!
So WHY is there a huge poinsettia plant in my living room, dropping leaves like crazy and looking like a plucked chicken? It is a tradition in my church for people to purchase poinsettias at Christmas and Easter lilies at Easter to decorate the sanctuary, all in honor or memory of others. Even with the COVID shut-down, our Christmas service was held online with all of those beautiful plants to help things appear normal. People are supposed to pick up their plants soon after the last service so the church doesn't have to deal with them.
A dear friend of mine is at the church every Monday, cooking nutritious soups for the homeless in Indianapolis. Christmas was on Friday. There was an unclaimed poinsettia still hanging around the church on Monday afternoon, so this person brought one to me as a gift. What a blessing! What a curse! It was/is a beautiful plant that someone spent money on as a holy gift to decorate God's House, and now it graces mine. I would never intentionally do anything to contribute to its demise...but...it's already on its way out.
I have decided--in my own wisdom and no one else's--to treat poinsettias as consumables in the same way that I treat Christmas cookies and candy. Love it. Enjoy it. Rejoice in it. Then let it go, whether by ingestion or elemental exposure.
I'm still quite thankful that others think enough of me to send me these once-beautiful plants. I hope they will also understand when the plants goes on to their inevitable heavenly reward. Are there poinsettias in Heaven?
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