Poinsettia Season Is Here!
Did you know that Dec. 12 is National Poinsettia Day? If not, now you know … and you should celebrate appropriately!
I came across a statistic recently that stated poinsettias account for nearly one-quarter of flowering potted plant sales each year. That is well over 30 million poinsettias sold every holiday season!
Do you grow this holiday favorite? If so, how do you decide which varieties to produce and offer your customers? Each year, poinsettia breeders introduce new varieties in traditional and novel colors, and various shapes and sizes.
Do you visit any of the poinsettia trials across the country, or perhaps conduct any trials of your own? The Millstadt/Heimos Poinsettia Open House in Millstadt, Illinois, has become one of my favorites. They trial pretty much every available poinsettia on the market, along with several experimental varieties in the pipeline. This year, they had entries from Dümmen Orange, Selecta, Beekenkamp, Lazzeri, Suntory and Rinehardt.
Amy Morris, head grower and vice president of N.G. Heimos Greenhouses and Millstadt Young Plants, was kind enough to share with me the voting results for all three days of their trial. They had a growers clinic the first day, brokers and growers the second day, and the general public the final day. It’s quite interesting to see how voting differs among the various groups.
While the voting was across the board, there were some clear favorites. The poinsettias that received the most total votes are:
‘Princettia Queen Pink’
Suntory
‘Superba Glitter’
Lazzeri
‘Tapestry’
Dümmen Orange
‘Winter Rose Early Red’
Dümmen Orange
‘Winter Rose Dark Red’
Dümmen Orange
‘Princettia Pure White’
Suntory
If you grow poinsettias, what are some of your top-selling varieties? Do you grow any of the above? If so, are they just as popular with your customers? Shoot me an email at jdolce@greatamericanpublish.com, and let me know. I’d love to hear from you.
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