Dec 5, 2014

‘Tis the Season By Tim Hodson

It’s that time of the year!

Christmas is just two-and-a-half weeks away so I am headed down to Gainesville this morning to check out the University of Florida’s 2014 poinsettia trials. Tomorrow is the university’s Industry Poinsettia Trial Field Day.

GPN’s consulting editor Dr. Jim Barrett told me they are trialing more than 125 poinsettia varieties this year from the sponsoring breeding companies – Beekenkamp, Dümmen, Selecta/Ball and Syngenta. Some of the varieties have been on the market for a few years now, others are making their debut this season and some are experimentals that may or may not make it to the marketplace in the future.

Dr. Barrett has been keeping me up to date on the university’s trials all season long so I am really looking forward to seeing them in person.

In the February issue of GPN, he will be reporting on the the U of F’s results from this year’s trials as part of the North American Poinsettia Trials that also take place in North Carolina and in Canada.

I am really curious to see how the 2014 poinsettia season is going to play out across the country. How is the poinsettia business in your backyard? Did you grow poinsettias this season? Did you grow more or less than in 2013? What were your top performers in the greenhouse? What were your top performers at retail? What do you think you will be doing in 2015?

Drop me a line at thodson@greatamericanpublish.com and let me know whcih direction your poinsettia season is pointing this year.

– Tim