Euphorbia pulcherrima

27th December 2021

Euphorbia pulcherrima

Firmly associated with Christmas since its introduction to the USA in the late nineteenth century, the poinsettia is a tender South American shrub which sheds its colourful bracts at the first touch of cold. It must be most doomed plant gift ever, usually not outlasting the traditional twelve days of Christmas. Some green-fingered souls keep the plants alive and even encourage then to produce colourful bracts again next winter by manipulating day length, but generally it's kinder to compost them.