The little red plant that means Christmas is here

Dec 24, 2009, 10:28 GMT

Cologne, Germany - Many people consider poinsettias, whose bright red leaves resemble petals, to be part of the Advent season. They are not called 'Christmas stars' for nothing.

In Germany for example about 35 million of them are sold each year, according to Stars for Europe, a Cologne-based initiative of European poinsettia breeders and growers. The poinsettia is the most popular flowering house plant despite having a sales season of only about eight weeks a year.

Nurseries that prepare the plants for market get to work far in advance, however. The Hoepken Nursery near Cologne, for instance, has about 50,000 poinsettias at this time of year. The first seedlings always arrive in June from Southern Europe or Africa. Nursery workers plant them in pots and prune them so that they form several shoots.

'The plants need a lot of warmth and moisture in the beginning, which only a greenhouse can provide,' remarked Reiner Hoepken, the head of the nursery.

Timing is crucial. 'The poinsettias have to be made to flower at precisely the right time,' he said. To flower in time for the Advent season, they must be kept in total darkness for at least 12 hours a day, seven weeks long.

'That's why they don't flower a second time in most homes,' Hoepken explained. 'If a lamp is on in the evening or there's incidental light from a television set, they won't.'

At the nursery, workers darken the greenhouse with black plastic covering so that the poinsettias flower in beautiful colours punctually just before the start of the Advent season.

Classic red is by far the most popular hue, after which come white, yellow and pink. 'It always depends on the general fashion,' Hoepken pointed out. He said blue petals had been 'in' several years ago but 'no-one wants that anymore.' This year the top colour is a burgundy that almost shades into lilac.

New varieties of the plant in terms of colours, shapes and sizes as well as robustness are constantly being developed. 'The varieties keep getting more robust,' noted Joerg Kirstein, president of the Brandenburg State Gardening Association. To help save energy, production facilities are now trying to cultivate poinsettias at lower temperatures.

According to Stars for Europe, a poinsettia cost 2.89 euros (4.22 dollars) on average last year. The prices at specialist flower shops averaged 4.12 euros, about 30 per cent higher than at other stores that sold the plants.

'Particularly when a poinsettia is meant as a gift, people prefer to purchase it in a specialist shop and are prepared to spend more money,' said Bernhard Rueb, spokesman for the North Rhine-Westphalia Chamber of Agriculture. A quarter of all poinsettias are given as gifts.

Internet: www.starsforeurope.com.