LADYBUG SAYS: POINSETTIEAS HELP CREATE THAT HOLIDAY MOOD

Holiday decorating can be magic with poinsettias. It can be more vibrant and alive this year than ever before by using poinsettias throughout the home.

Today's varieties stay beautiful, not only during the holidays, but well into the dreary months ahead. In fact, a white one from last Christmas has just left the living room coffee table where it has been for one year, still with the bracts intact.

The traditional holiday plant is now available in an abundance of sizes, shapes and colors. Unlike any other flowering plant, the poinsettia can be grown in sizes ranging from miniature to giant, and in distinctive shapes, including topiary trees and cascading hanging baskets.

Add to this versitility the new color choices like Lemon Drop and Pink Peppermint, and one can certainly find a poinsettia to suit every taste and every occasion this holiday season.

Caring for them could not be easier than now, as they are happy with household temperatures, and a spot where they will receive four to six hours of sun per day, and a home away from the drafts of windows and doors.

There are many types of poinsettias on the market today, including mini stars, pixies, standard branched, large branched, single-stem plants, tub or bush type, trees, hanging baskets and centerpiece baskets.

Poinsettias were popular as fresh cut field flowers long before they were grown as potted plants. With their strong, stiff stems and large, showy blossoms, fresh cut poinsettia are spectacular in large vases or airy arrangements.

The Paul Ecke Poinsettia Ranch of Encinitas, CA, recommends the following tips for fresh cut poinsettias: Cut the stems and place them in a floral preservative or use two teaspoons of a 10 percent solution of liquid chlorine bleach per gallon of water. This will preserve the flowers longer than dipping the stems in boiling water or burning the ends. To keep the fresh cuts "fresh" be sure to change the water every few days with a new solution of preservation or bleach. Keep flowers out of direct sunlight, in an area with good circulation and mild temperatures (do not refrigerate). With proper care the flowers should last seven to 10 days.

Credit the plant physiologists who developed "growth regulators" to mellow those fiery blossomed 10-foot wildings discovered by Joel R. Poinsett during his 1850s ambassadorship to Mexico. (Mr. Poinsett has Cape Girardeau relatives, the Palsgrove family and Mrs. Franchine White).

Today the poinsettia is not only the most popular Christmas plant, it also is the number one flowering potted plant in the United States. Even with its traditional selling period of just six weeks out of the year, in terms of wholesale value the poinsettia far out distanced the second place chrysanthemum and third place zonal geranium.

For success with poinsettias, follow the following guidelines:

IP2,1Select plants with green foliage all the way down to the soil line, a good indication that the plant has active, healthy roots.

Look for plants that have small green buttons (cyathia) in the center of colored bracts. These buttons will eventually develop into little yellow flowers.

When transporting the plants home, make sure they are protected from temperatures below 50 degrees. Chilling causes the leaves to drop.

Place in a room where there is sufficient natural light to read fine print.

Water plants thoroughly when you get them home. The entire soil area should be saturated so that water seeps through the drain hole. Remember to discard excess water. Never allow poinsettias to sit in water.

Check the plants daily and water only when the soil feels dry to the touch.

Fertilize plants within several days. They are without nutrients during the entire marketing process and will need a feeding by then. Use liquid, sticks or dry fertilizer according to the directions on the label.

If you keep curtains drawn during the day to conserve heat, remember that poinsettias must have at least six hours of bright indirect light daily to thrive.

Keep plants away from drafts, radiators and hot air registers.

To prolong bright color of bracts, temperature should not exceed 72 degrees in the day or 60 degrees at night.

IP1,0Gone are the leggy, red, leaf-dropping poinsettias of decades past. To enhance the original red color the choices range from orange to dusty rose to long lasting pink, to creamy white and the new lemon yellow (which takes a bit of becoming accustom to). Look for the novelties, such as Marble, with variegated pink and cream bracts, Jingle Bells, a speckled cultivar with pink flecks on dark red bracts, Pink Peppermint Tree, a softly speckled pastel peach-pinch, and Lemon Drop, a golden yellow.

The poinsettia has become a Christmas tradition since its importation from Mexico by Joel Poinsett.