The Other Coast by Adrian Raeside for January 05, 2023

Saw my first discarded one of this season on the curb last week. Some people in San Jose, CA can actually plant them and continue to grow them. Me, not so much.

One would think they wait until it’s starts to die then toss it.

I usually try to rescue one or two a year. Oddly they won’t turn red again until next year’s Valentine Day.

Now “pain-sets-in ya” and ya feel “East(er) of Eden”, huh?

So much for “Flower power”…

I’m familiar with the word “poinsettia”, but I admit that I wouldn’t know one if I saw it. I don’t recall anyone I know having plants that look like the one in the comic.

Most people mispronounce its name.

We’re putting ours (rec’d as a gift) in with the other plants that are over-wintering in our garage with grow lights. If it can survive until Spring, then we’ll see where it will live. (We can’t keep it in the living areas, due to our parrots being curious, bitey creatures). Poinsettias are poisonous plants. :P

Poor poinsettias. They’re so pretty, then discarded. I kill plants (not on purpose!!) and try to give mine away to someone who likes to keep them alive.

my mother-in-law had the same one for 3 years…..

I grew one in a large 2 ft pot. It grew to be a 5 ft bush. About Sept I put it in a black covered “house” with a grow light. Light on for 8 hours 16 hours off. Copious amounts of food and in Dec I had the most gorgeous fully blooming plant I have ever had. After that bloom it gave up. Took about 4 years to get it to that point so I was happy.Not had one since.

My wife has a poinsettia that has lasted several years. After the bracts turn and wither, she cuts it back to the level of the dirt in the pot and keeps it watered. It has come back from the root now for 3 or 4 years.

We had one that stayed red and alive for six years, until we moved and, sadly, tossed it.

Ach nein, dieser Comicstreifen ist so traurig. So infinitely sad!

I have one that I’ve kept for 10 years now. It’s huge, like a bush. It lives outside all summer and then I bring it in for the winter and stick it in the guest room. It won’t survive Colorado winters. And yes, it turns red when I bring it in.

https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/ornamental/flowers/poinsettia/poinsettia-care-how-do-you-take-care-of-poinsettias.htm

Kind of equivalent to a fruitcake, and it’s toxic.

Thanks for raising my consciousness. Plants need love, too!

Such a shame to dump a plant that still has lots of live in it.

Sad, lasts two to three months then with care will bloom next year, Be Green…

I believe this is Adrian’s editorial remark about throw away society.

I’ve never encountered a brainy poinsettia before. This went from bud to worse.

I had a therapist about 10 years ago who claimed that he could keep one of those alive for a couple of years. I tried several times but none of my subjects survived long after the Christmas season.

I have one on my patio that is 4 years old and four feet high,