A few months ago Cee shared one of her many glorious photographs of a poinsettia (Euphorbia pulcherrima ) and we got chatting about how they happily grow outside here in the Algarve., and become trees! Well last week I remembered I’d promised to take a shot of them, and thought I’d share a few as part of #ThursdayTreeLove.

The only thing is though when I revisited Cee’s post the following day I realised I’d actually promised a video. So apologies Cee still no video, but I did snap this one in the corner of the garden belonging to the lovely lovely Restless Jo’s. It’s a cutting!

A corner of Jo's garden

The poinsettias are an introduced plant here from Mexico, and like in Mexico they can grow as tall as 13ft. Most of us though know them as indoor plants that are bought every Christmas. A tradition which according to Wikipedia began in the 16th century in Mexico, but seems to be a worldwide phenomena. Well they are certainly popular in Portugal, England and the USA at Christmas!

The red bracts (yup they are leaves not flowers) are created through photoperiodism, and accordingly to Wikipedia and a couple of other sites they need 12 hours of complete darkness for at least five days in a row to change from green to red. However I am not convinced by those exact timings as complete darkness for these plants in Tavira will be less than 12hrs in the weeks leading up to Christmas, thanks to our long winter days and the street lights. Or maybe outdoor ones just grow differently to those grown commercially for indoors.

Poinsettia

There again these outdoor ones behave in a similar way to those indoors as none of them are at their best now. They are all shedding their leaves ready for their summer downtime, but I’m hoping Jo’s fabulous cutting and my final shot above have more than made up for the lack of leaves and video!

27 thoughts

    1. Think you’re right they are rather like the liquors everyone brings home after a holiday. Look and taste fabulous where they are, but never quite as good back in England!

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  3. Pingback: New Flower (February 22, 2019) – White Poinsettia | Mama Cormier

  7. We had a large tree in a garden in Cape Town, so much nicer than the pot plants which are subjected to glitter and all sorts of horrid stuff. I would never buy one.

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  10. I had no idea that these plants were actually trees. I’m looking after my neighbour’s plant while she’s away. Most people don’t keep them long past Christmas and I’m a bit stressed this one won’t last much longer. One is already close to being dead but I keep watering it.

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    2. Apparently they just need to be kept moist, but come February/March they are expected to drop all their leaves. So if it’s looking almost dead that’s normal!

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