If you have a large greenhouse full of poinsettias growing and reflowering can be tricky. However, if you only have a few plants in your home it is easy.

Fortunately, there is plenty of information available on how to control these conditions properly.

The main conditions for growing poinsettias:

• Night temperatures above 50 F.
• Daytime temperatures below 70 F.
• A period of uninterrupted long, dark nights for about 2 months in the fall.

The ideal is to have a temperature of about 69 F all the time.

This is true of growing new plants or to get a plant to reflower in subsequent years.

How to make poinsettias flower or reflower:

• Light your poinsettia plants with grow lights until 2 a.m. until Sept. 25. Then cover with a black cloth from 5 p.m. until 8 a.m. until Oct. 15, followed with natural day lengths.
• Keep the temperature at 69F all the time.

Read more about Poinsettia Cultivation Flowering and Reflowering.

Legend has it that poinsettias have been involved in Christmas miracles. One especially charming one involves a poor child who gave weeds from the side of the road as a gift to his church suddenly springing to full scarlet red poinsettias.

Read more about Poinsettias in Legend.

Poinsettia plants have brightly colored leaves (bracts) that are often mistaken for flowers. The poinsettia true flowers are small yellow or green structures at the base of the bracts.

This familiar form of poinsettias are due to careful breeding, cultivation and harvesting. In the wild, poinsettias are a shrub or small tree. Poinsettias are originally from Mexico and Central America.

Read more about Poinsettia Description.

Poinsettias are named after Joel Roberts Poinsett, the first United States ambassador to Mexico, who introduced the plant in the U.S. in 1825.

Paul Ecke of Encinitas, California was responsible for the technological advance that made poinsettias a successful commercial plant. One key to poinsettia profits is getting the plants to grow so that multiple branches come off one stem, creating a fuller, more colorful plant.

The Eckes' technique, which involved grafting two varieties of poinsettia together, made it possible to get every seedling to branch. Ecke had perfected this poinsettia secret before 1910 and his family had a virtual poinsettia monopoly for about 80 years. Around 1996 a university researcher made the same discovery and made the technique public.

Since then the Eckes Poinsettia Ranch has adapted and now is a great source of technical assistance and research funding for both commercial growers and consumers.

Read more about Poinsettia Origins.

Poinsettias are a shrub that; as this photo proves, grow to the size of a small tree with thick trucks.

Image by Martin LaBar

Read more about Poinsettia in San Diego Area Garden.

Image by Old Shoe Woman.

The photo below is a great closeup shot of the true flowers of a poinsettia plant. The poinsettia true flowers in this picture are just opening. Unopened true flowers is one important sign that the poinsettia blooms will last a long time. This is an important tip when buying poinsettias.

Image by Tzatziki.

Read more about Poinsettia True FLowers.

cranberry fruit on a cranberry bush

Cranberries are low, creeping shrubs or vines up to 10 cm tall (often less), with slender, wiry stems, not thickly woody, and small evergreen leaves. The flowers are dark pink, with very distinct reflexed petals, leaving the style and stamens fully exposed and pointing forward. The fruit is a true berry that is larger than the leaves of the plant; it is initially white, but turns a deep red when fully ripe. It is edible, with an acidic taste that can overwhelm its sweetness.

Cranberries are a traditional Thanksgiving food in the United States.

Read more about the Cranberry.

The Nixon Library Gardens staff has experience hosting heads of state. This talented group is a good bet to make your wedding planning and wedding ceremony stress free.

The Nixon Library Gardens set up to host a wedding.

The gardens are an inspiration to gardeners from all over. The Nixon Library Gardens is also a great place to host a wedding or wedding reception.

Highlights of the Nixon Library Gardens include:

• One hundred Veterans Honor roses planted just outside the White House East Room replica.
• The Library's Andrew Jackson Magnolia tree, grown from a seedling given to First Lady Pat Nixon. The original Andrew Jackson Magnolia, featured on the $20 bill, was brought by President Andrew Jackson to the White House in 1835, transplanted from his Tennessee estate, The Hermitage.
• A bed of flowering magnolia soulangiana next to the East Room replica. Identical and in the same location as the White House magnolias, the Alexandrina, with its pinkish-purple saucer-sized blooms, was selected in consultation with the staff of the White House gardens.
• Twenty Debutante camellias, a soft pink that was among Mrs. Nixon's favorite colors, grace the elegant Muth Patio adjacent to the White House East Room.
• Near the cornerstone of the East Room replica is a bed of classic soft pink, 1843 roses, Souvenir de la Malmaison.

Image by Miss Shari.

The Nixon Library and Gardens exhibits many traits of a great flower garden in a Mediterranean Climate.

There is a pond to capture rainfall and the grounds make extensive use of native plants.Yorba Linda receives most of its rainfall during the winter. This makes water efficient gardens important in Yorba Linda.

Image by Miss Shari.

The Nixon Library Garden in Yorba Linda features many friendly paths for a stroll. Your garden needn't be so grand to be just as welcoming.

Image by Miss Shari.

The Nixon Library Garden in Yorba Linda has flowers at every turn. Nothing looks more beautiful than flowers against the sky.

Image by Miss Shari.

Give visitors to your garden a reason to look upwards. The Nixon Library Garden in Yorba Linda uses flowering trees to add color to upward views.

Image by Miss Shari.

Water is a great feature in any garden. This fountain at the Nixon Library Garden in Yorba Linda is striking and has a cooling effect in summer.

Image by Miss Shari.

Water is a great feature in any garden. This is a step fountain at the Nixon Library Garden in Yorba Linda. This is a good example of using stored water to create a cooling effect in a garden. This works especially well in low humidity climates like that in Yorba Linda.

Image by Miss Shari.

Garden flowers should be placed so that they invite a passerby to stop and take a sniff. The Nixon Library Garden in Yorba Linda makes good use of this principle

Image by Miss Shari.

The Nixon Library Garden is a great place for a garden wedding. It rarely rains in Yorba Linda in summer.

Image by Miss Shari.

Yellow flowers make a garden a cheerful place.

Garden flowers should invite you to take a closer look.

Images by Miss Shari.

Image by Miss Shari.

These garden flowers look delicate as a snowflake. Yorba Linda has a mild climate that is friendly to delicate flowers and plants.

Image by Miss Shari.

The Nixon Library and Gardens features over 1,400 rose bushes. Yorba Linda is a perfect place for rose bushes.

Image by Miss Shari.

The use of palm trees and other semi-tropical plants that sets this California Formal Garden apart from its European cousins.

This should help when you are buying an arrangement from a florist or grower.

You might also get some good ideas for your lawn and garden.