From the time you receive it, make sure your poinsettia gets plenty of direct sunlight during daytime hours. Water once every five or six days.
St. Patrick’s Day — Cut back the bracts (mistakenly called “flowers”).
Memorial Day — Repot the plant into a larger container with rich, loamy soil. Place it outdoors, where it can get full sunlight during warm weather.
During spring and summer, fertilize the plant twice a month and water thoroughly. Allow enough time for the soil to become almost completely dry before saturating it again.
Independence Day — Cut all stems back by 6 inches.
Labor Day — Bring the plant indoors and put in a sunny window.
Columbus Day — Put the poinsettia in a dark corner or closet. It needs 14 to 16 hours of continual darkness per day to set buds. Allow it to get only four to six hours of direct sunlight daily. Water and fertilize as usual.
When the plant comes into bloom, set it out and enjoy its beauty until St. Patrick’s Day. Then start all over again.
PLAN B
On Martin Luther King Day, put the entire pot and dead plant in a trash can and put it out for garbage pickup!
I prefer Plan B, but I know gardeners who faithfully follow these rules and get their poinsettias to rebloom, some year after year. So now you have a plan — and a choice!
GARDEN CUTTINGS
Be sure to remove all brown and spent foliage from peonies. This helps prevent botrytis blight next season. Do not compost the dead foliage. Bag and garbage it.
Bagworms have been especially bad this year on pines, cedars, juniper and arborvitae. Spraying now will do no good. When you see the tiny bags on a tree or shrub, pick them off by hand and destroy.
If you suspect your lawn or garden needs lime, now is a good time to get some exercise and apply it any warm day. It takes several months for lime to become effective. Consider using dolomitic lime, since it also adds magnesium to the soil. Take a soil test to know for sure whether you need lime.
The Chicago Botanic Garden has completed a six-year study on 21 different lamium ground covers. They nominated these as best: Album, Beedham’s White, Red Nancy and Shell Pink. Lamium is an excellent ground cover for shade and is hardy in Zone 6. You probably won’t find it in garden centers now, but if you need a shade ground cover in the spring, it’s one of the best.
Need a last-minute Christmas gift, maybe for the “person who has everything?” You can’t do better than “Private Lives of Garden Birds” by Calvin Simonds (Storey Books, hardcover, $18.95). It relates the many interesting details of 12 most-recognized birds. It’s been called “the best thing to happen to bird lovers since binoculars.” Once you start reading it, it’s hard to put down.
Winter’s shorter days and dry, heated air can be tough on houseplants. To perk up tired indoor plants, an all-natural fertilizer, Houseplants Alive!, provides vital nutrients and turns hard, crusty soil into a spongy, crumbly growing medium plants love. There are two types — one for foliage plants, the other for African violets. Cost is $6.95 per pound at www.GardensAlive.com, or call 513-354-1482.
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