Whether you pronounce it “poin-setta” or “poinset-ee-ya,” America’s favorite holiday plant brightens any winter room.
Poinsettias—with crimson, pink, ivory or white leaves that look like flowers (they’re called bracts)—start to appear in most garden centers and nurseries just before Thanksgiving.
“You think Christmas, you think red,” says Jill Dinger, general manager at the Hillister, Texas, location of Seville Farms, a wholesale nursery that grows 300,000 poinsettias every year. You’ll find varieties with double blooms and even painted or glittered ones, but most people—roughly 90 percent—choose red, Jill says.
The tropical shrubs, native to Mexico and Central America, have been popular since the 1820s when the first U.S. ambassador to Mexico, Joel Poinsett, became entranced with them. Today, the biggest challenge is choosing just one.
Jill suggests selecting plants with leaves…
