Chris Enroth: 00:04

Welcome to the Good Growing podcast. I am Chris Enroth, horticulture educator with University of Illinois Extension, coming at you from Macomb,

Chris Enroth: 00:12

Illinois, and we have got a great show for you today. We are reprising the topic of the poinsettia. Yes. We had a a a an in-depth show on this last year.

Chris Enroth: 00:23

But Ken and I took a little trip, and we want to share what we learned about that trip. And you know I'm not doing this by myself. I am joined as always every single week by horticulture educator, Ken Johnson in Jacksonville. Hey, Ken.

Ken Johnson: 00:36

Hello, Chris. So we were discussing before we started, this is our most expensive podcast ever.

Chris Enroth: 00:41

That's right. Yes. We spare no expense on these podcasts, just as John Hammond did with Jurassic Park. But we're talking about plants, not not dinosaurs. So not as exciting probably for most people.

Ken Johnson: 00:55

Probably not, but it's alright. It's the next best thing.

Chris Enroth: 00:58

It that's right. Next best thing. Dinosaurs ate plants. So and we we went on this trip, this trek, and, we went to go see poinsettias, a trial of poinsettias. Now this is not like the Salem witch trial.

Chris Enroth: 01:15

This is, kind of taking different breeders, and and these breeders, they they pretty much line up their poinsettias, and they have brokers and buyers come through to say, this is what we like. This is what we want to see more of next year. And then those breeders work towards, fulfilling those those desires, those wants, of of the buyers from from different places. And and so, yeah, it was quite an event, Ken. Do do do you have any initial, feelings as you walked into the Poinsettia trial?

Ken Johnson: 01:53

I was just amazed at how many different types there are. Like, the not only the number of colors, but just, like, the number of types of reds was almost mind boggling. Like, a red poinsettia is a red poinsettia until you see how many think they were there? 50 different types, if not more than that?

Chris Enroth: 02:11

Probably more. So I went ahead and I I counted the different ones. There there's more than 200 types of poinsettias. Red, white, the marbled, all the different colors. So more than 200 types were showcased here.

Chris Enroth: 02:25

There's a few that aren't in the the pamphlet that they gave us. There's one breeder who came in from Europe. We'll talk about them. And but so, yes, more than 200 types. And when most people think poinsettia, they think you get a red one, you get a white one.

Chris Enroth: 02:41

You know, 2, but way more than that. And so we hope to showcase what we saw and some of the differences, and and and maybe, I I don't know about my market where I'm at here, Ken, if I'm gonna see some of these. But if some people are listening from maybe more, maybe high profile plant, based markets, you know, where people have money to spend on indoor plants, because that's really what this is, is indoor plants, you might see some of these more interesting and what they call them their novel type poinsettias. And so I love to see more of these in stores, though. They're it's it's goes far beyond the regular red poinsettia.

Ken Johnson: 03:28

Yes. Very far beyond. Some of them don't even look like poinsettia. Poinsettias. However you wanna say it.

Chris Enroth: 03:35

Exactly. Yeah. And I I guess maybe we should probably recap a little bit about this particular plant. So, we can leave a link below to the show that we did last year about this where we we really dive deep into, the the different aspects of this growing this plant, kind of its history, its origin, the unfortunate namesake that it has, the person who, quote, unquote, discovered it, although, you know, everyone from the the ancient Aztecs, you know, into, several other, groups of indigenous peoples used and knew about this plant before Joel Poinsett, quote, discovered it, and he was not a very nice man. So native to Mexico, Central America, Joel Poinsett went down there kinda representing the United States.

Chris Enroth: 04:27

Mexico, once they found out he was trying to, sort of overthrow their government release, see a a pro American, Mexican leadership, kicked the Joel out of the country. But he brought the poinsettia up to North America, and they named it after him and the name kept for better or worse. Really, I wish we had maybe would've kept that more indigenous name that it had,

Ken Johnson: 05:05

That's the Aztec name. And last year, we didn't have this, but I found the Mayan name. So the the Aztec name means a brilliant flower. The Mayan name let me find my pronunciation here so I don't butcher it too bad. Kalalwets.

Ken Johnson: 05:24

Kalalwits. Yeah. It's the Mayan, and that means ember flower.

Chris Enroth: 05:31

And it really gained popularity because, from, you know, the the the the Christian religions, settlers that came over from Europe saw this blooming in December, you know, the time around Christmas, and so this really become a holiday plant, that is marketed worldwide. And I think it is the number one selling plant in the world. We spend more money on a poinsettia, I think. We grow a lot of them. They're grown all over the all over the world.

Ken Johnson: 06:06

So if not, it's up there. And in North America, or at least in United States, it's if not the top one of the top houseplants.

Chris Enroth: 06:14

Mhmm. Yeah. And people, you know, they they buy them. They they have them for Christmas for a little while or holidays, and then very often, we'll just throw them away and or compost them. Let's compost them instead.

Chris Enroth: 06:25

But, and then you go back next year and and do it all again. And I'm sure there's probably people who can make comments about the wastefulness of something like that. But as we saw at this trial, it is a massive market. I would assume that be careful with this, but I would assume 1,000,000,000 of dollars are spent on this plant every year.

Ken Johnson: 06:53

So if not 100 of 1,000,000.

Chris Enroth: 06:55

Mhmm.

Ken Johnson: 06:55

Yeah. There's lots lots and lots of money being

Chris Enroth: 06:58

Yes.

Ken Johnson: 06:58

Being spent on them.

Chris Enroth: 07:00

Yep. Alright. Should we keep re yeah. Yeah. I guess we should.

Chris Enroth: 07:06

I have no more recap.

Ken Johnson: 07:09

Okay. I'll have

Chris Enroth: 07:09

a recap.

Ken Johnson: 07:10

I'll say they're kinda greenhouse grown, so, you know, at the trial, they have they had these all laid out in blocks. So it's very colorful. We can throw a picture of what it would look like. And each block had a sign on it with the the cultivar variety name, the breeder, and then I had a a letter and then a number. So the letter was whether it was was a compact, moderate type of grass or how the yeah.

Ken Johnson: 07:37

And then the numbers was days until the days until market. So basically, that's how long they you would have to do the kind of the long night treatment for them to be fully colored up and ready to go to market. So typically that's usually doing, like, 14 hours of darkness, Complete darkness to get them to to bloom, get those racks to color up, and then send them off to market. So they were anywhere usually between, what, 8 11 weeks. Maybe some a little shorter than that, depending on the type.

Ken Johnson: 08:07

So and then depending on where you grow them, you may be using them. When you want them to hit the market, you may be using, shade cloth or covering them to do that. Maybe natural day length may be short enough for you to be able to do that. So now at the kind of commercial level, there's there's a lot that goes into it. And then, you know, the more compact stuff, you're not having to use as many growth regulators, and stuff to keep them nice and compact, if you if you want that for your market and stuff.

Ken Johnson: 08:36

So there's there's a lot that goes into it other than stick them on the ground, the cuttings and and grills.

Chris Enroth: 08:43

Make it make it dark for 14 hours and boom. You got it. Yeah. No. There's there's a lot more.

Chris Enroth: 08:47

I I did not realize that they had Poinsettias for early holiday season, mid holiday season, and late holiday season. That that number that Ken mentioned, that the numb the length of time it takes for those bracks to fully color, those are all intentional. So when stores you know, whether Christmas is coming earlier every single year, it seems like. So, you know, when do they wanna put those out in the stores? A shorter number, means it takes fewer weeks for those bracks to color up.

Chris Enroth: 09:18

Those would be the first ones to hit the shelves. And then, you know, midway through those, middle of the season and then the longer ones, those in season. So, lots lots went into this, particular plant as we've found out.

Ken Johnson: 09:35

Yeah. We were we were talking to a lot of people in the comment. I didn't realize there's so many reds. You know, it's it's kinda mind boggling. She's like, yeah.

Ken Johnson: 09:41

You've got, like you said, to hit those different, time frames. And then, you know, just the varying vigor of them and different leaf shapes. And, yeah, it was it was crazy.

Chris Enroth: 09:55

Yeah. Yeah. Well, Ken, is it a should we start sharing some of our, you know, photos, some of our pics, some of our, things that we might want to showcase or or talk about with our Poinsettia trial tour?

Ken Johnson: 10:09

Let's do that. So start with a traditional red poinsettia, and then we'll

Chris Enroth: 10:14

I'd say so.

Ken Johnson: 10:15

Descend into the unique Madness.

Chris Enroth: 10:18

Yes. Werner Herzog will say, descend into madness.

Ken Johnson: 10:24

Alright. So one that I picked, for the reds is this is Kayla red. And this one's kinda got a uniquely beef shape. So should've mentioned this earlier. We're gonna be heavy on pictures today.

Ken Johnson: 10:35

So may wanna if you're listening, may wanna hop on to YouTube. We'll do our best to remember to describe everything really well. But speaking for myself, I'm not very good at that sometimes. So candelared, this is, you know, traditional red one. But this one's kinda got the unique leaf shape.

Ken Johnson: 10:51

It's got the the points projections on them. Kinda like almost like an oak leaf a little bit. So that that's why I picked this one. It's just it's not your traditional kind of pyramid shaped leaf. You've got some of those points sticking out just kinda that unique leaf shape.

Ken Johnson: 11:07

Again, your traditional nice bright red color on it.

Chris Enroth: 11:11

And and some of these, the breeders actually spotlighted, and I took notes on them as they were speaking about these. And they did mention Kayla Red, and this is by Beacon Camp Breeders, and they noted that the darker red, but then also there's a very dark green leaf underneath of it. And so this is sort of these deeper colors, and that's what the what the breeder is really trying to market here. And so I'll, since I took notes, Ken, I'll try to interject where I can what the breeders have talked about with, some of these. But I I don't have notes for all of them, and we actually missed the presentation of the first breeder there, doom and orange, but we'll we'll talk more about some of their plants as well.

Ken Johnson: 11:55

Yes. Chris was a good student and took notes. I didn't.

Chris Enroth: 11:58

Well, that's I I don't have good handwriting, so we'll try. Alright. This next one took me by surprise. It's red, but the shape of the bracts is not like any poinsettia that I've ever really seen. And they called this type a rose type poinsettia because it has a much tighter kind of rounded, top to it, a rounded sort of structure to the to the bracts, which are the the colorful leaves around surrounding that that flower.

Chris Enroth: 12:39

And so this one is called Rocco Star Red, and this comes from the breeder, let's see. How do you say their name? Lazeriai? Lazeriai?

Ken Johnson: 12:51

Lazeriai.

Chris Enroth: 12:52

Lazeriai?

Ken Johnson: 12:53

Lazeriai.

Chris Enroth: 12:54

And this is this is one that they also highlighted during their presentation as a very unique shape to this particular plant. It's just it's just like nothing I have seen before in in a store before. And and they have rockstar red. They also have a white, as well, version of this, so and a pink. So the I I I just found this one very interesting because the whole the structure of the bracts itself is different.

Chris Enroth: 13:23

And in this photograph here, we have rockstar red in and amongst maybe more traditional shaped bracts or leaves of these, poinsettias. As you can see, it's just it's more kinda columnar, more compact, and still puts on a pretty intro pretty neat show. I like it.

Ken Johnson: 13:43

Yeah. And and Chris Luking, another word educator, was there, and she was talking about it was a lot for the kind of the cut flower market bouquets, like Christmas wedding or something like that using this, for that market.

Chris Enroth: 13:58

Well, Ken, this next red one really struck my eye. I don't know if if you had noticed this one really popped, like others. This one is is Gloria red. I just there's something about the colors here just popped out to me. I I really thought this was the the colors were not so bright or vibrant, I don't think, but it was just this deepness or this depth to to the colors of Gloria red.

Ken Johnson: 14:29

Yeah. I'm trying to remember. Is there anything else I remember about that one or not?

Chris Enroth: 14:33

Let me see if there's

Ken Johnson: 14:35

They all they all blend together after a while.

Chris Enroth: 14:37

They are. And the one thing problem that we had so we we, well, we started the day there at 8 AM, and we finish up around 1 PM. Yeah. You start seeing your eyes start to cross after seeing so many poinsettias. Gloria Red is another one that this breeder, Lazari, highlighted during their talk, as as a good performer.

Chris Enroth: 15:03

I didn't have any notes, but I have a star by it that indicating that they had talked about it. And then this particular red poinsettia might be one of my favorites, and this is where where people can or companies can win you over with a name. The name and this is a series, so they have many different types of poinsettias with this series of names, but the name is Christmas, like and it's pronounced like, you know, a young child trying to to say Christmas maybe with, like, a a lisp or something. It's spelled q hyphen I s m a s. So Christmas.

Chris Enroth: 15:45

And this is called Christmas Bond, and it's a red poinsettia. And this is by, by graft breeding, and graft breeding was not in our booklet.

Ken Johnson: 15:57

It was

Chris Enroth: 15:57

kind of a newer breeder on the scene here for North America. These are more out of Europe. Now the interesting thing that we learned about, poinsettias in Europe is that they're really bred to be more compact, to be more much smaller, more tight, structure of, plants. And so all of all of the Christmas series were were much smaller or shorter in stature. And I really like this because I don't Ken, have you ever had a poinsettia as a centerpiece on a table and it you're, like, trying to look over it and around it, trying to talk to somebody on the other side of the table.

Ken Johnson: 16:34

Yeah. At times, they can be, depending on the situation, yeah, too big. Sometimes there's not a whole lot at least when I'm going on buying them, they're they're more they're more compact smaller type plants.

Chris Enroth: 16:47

Yeah. I I I really like these. I think the the coloration was very nice. I just like the compact structure of the plant, itself. And then I had a, like, a very close-up here, just really dark, almost black looking leaves here, and then this this this deep red color of the bracts.

Chris Enroth: 17:06

So I I I really liked the Christmas Christmas Bond red poinsettia. I guess we should probably add, we got every per attendee got 3 votes. So they gave us 3 red flags, and we got to put our flag into, you know, our favorites from the day. And I think this is one of the ones that I voted for. Actually, I know this is one of the ones I voted for.

Ken Johnson: 17:34

Yeah. That may have been one of the more difficult tasks I've done this year. Mhmm. I was only picking 3.

Chris Enroth: 17:40

What's your favorite poinsettia in a list of 200?

Ken Johnson: 17:47

And then our our final red that we have here and again, this is I don't know. We could probably make this a 3 hour long podcast talking about all of them.

Chris Enroth: 17:58

All reds.

Ken Johnson: 17:59

Yeah. Just just reds. Yes. Is Advent red. Again, maybe a nice red color, kinda dark leaves.

Ken Johnson: 18:05

But the bracts, they're a little more narrow, looking not not quite as wide. Just kind of a different, unique look to them. So just you know, not they're not all you know, have these big broad wide leaves or or in these narrow types as well. And they kinda stack on top of each other too. It's kind of the Brax almost look a little more like an actual flower than than typical Brax do.

Chris Enroth: 18:31

So after red, we get into the marbled types of poinsettias, and these are ones that I I knew they were around. I had seen a few of these maybe when I when I travel somewhere else, But these aren't typically what you'd find at at at the the school fundraiser. You know? The the the these are definitely eye catching poinsettias. Multiple colors, you know, and and not only multiple colors of necessarily the the bracts, but also there is some variegation of the foliage too as well.

Chris Enroth: 19:12

So, I know, Ken, you have quite a few of these. Dare I say, were these some of your favorites? You seem to really like have a lot of pictures of these ones.

Ken Johnson: 19:24

Yes. I think I took pictures of every every single plant there. And, well, I mean, I have not gone through gotten through editing all of them, but at least the marbled ones I've gotten through, I think I added all of them to our list. So can can tell where my where my mind is at for Yeah. At least as of today.

Chris Enroth: 19:41

The one thing we we did mention, and Ken and I wanted to make sure that we said this, is that taking photographs in a greenhouse does not necessarily give you the true colors of that particular plant. You will notice in some of these photos, if you're watching us on YouTube, some of them look a little bit dull or a little bit muted. Some of them look a little bit bright and washed out. That just has to do it was a cloudy day and then it was a sunny day, but then we're also under greenhouse plastic or glass, and that diffuses the light. It really messes with the coloration.

Chris Enroth: 20:14

And so, you know, I know Ken has really been trying to, like, make these a bit more true to what we're seeing, but, you just have to go there and check it out your for yourself. We'll we'll we'll try our best to give you as accurate color representation as we can, at least on our end. I know everyone's you might be watching this on a phone or a computer screen or, so it all depends on your screen as well.

Ken Johnson: 20:39

Yes. There's lots of lots of time spent in Photoshop adjusting colors. Mhmm. So the first one we've got here is I got amarina early glitter. So again, red and white.

Ken Johnson: 20:54

It's kinda speckled but got larger blotches as well. White blotches on on the red bracts here. So again, I guess, very showy, looking. And even within that variety, just you can see that the variation of that. Some of them have more of that spotting or the speckling or stripes in them than others.

Ken Johnson: 21:13

So others have large blotches. See in this picture, some of them are white leaves with pink, as well. So just a lot of a lot of variation. I think it just kinda looks that all goes well with each other. Almost kinda sound like kinda like somebody took a paintbrush and just started flipping white paint, all over those bracts.

Ken Johnson: 21:34

Alright. And then the next one we've got here is early elegance glitter. So again, same idea here. Got this these red bracts, with this white. I think it's a little more right white than than the Amirena is.

Ken Johnson: 21:49

And more I guess these are larger spots, blotches, still some speckling in there too. But just a little more it was just a little brighter colored, than than the previous, but still, I think very, very attractive looking plant, as well. And there are several plants in this early elegance kind of like a series for these.

Chris Enroth: 22:14

Yeah. A a lot of these that that we do describe today, you know, you if if we say, like, the red version, a lot of times it's part of a series and there's also other corresponding colors to it. Not everyone, but, many of the ones that we'll talk about today do have, brothers, sisters, cousins in different colors.

Ken Johnson: 22:37

Alright. And the next one, I know this is one, I voted for for favorite plant, and this is Tapestry. So, again, we've got those red bracts, and they've got some if look at the picture, you look close to some of them, you can see they have a little bit of a darker, a little more kind of a maroon center to them. And then as you go down the plant, you get some of the the the quote unquote kind of the true leaves, kinda green with some red in them. And then further down, you've got green with yellowish margins on those leaves.

Ken Johnson: 23:11

So very, I I think very pretty, kinda like a patchwork quilt almost Mhmm. With with the coloring on this one.

Chris Enroth: 23:19

This reminds me of a, like, almost like a holly, like a kinda undertone to it all, a variegated type holly or I don't know. It it it just really does scream like holiday plant. You know? It just it it just looks like a like, it's made for displaying during December, which it is. It that's exactly what it's

Ken Johnson: 23:43

made for.

Chris Enroth: 23:43

Yeah. But this is has everything. It checks all the boxes.

Ken Johnson: 23:48

Yeah. Just I don't know. My mind is just like I don't know. Reminds me of traditional Christmas. I don't know how or why, but Mhmm.

Ken Johnson: 23:55

It does. But subconscious. Yeah. The next marbled one, we have them last year is ice punch. So again, very bright red, almost pinkish.

Ken Johnson: 24:08

Color to it is kinda it's got these, I don't know, frilly, a lot of projections coming off the leaves here. So kind of that showy look there. And the center is kind of a white, lighter pink color in there as well. So, again, kinda looks like a holly leaf, on those. Again, very again, I think very, decorative and and nice looking for these as well.

Chris Enroth: 24:29

Yeah. I I like this. It's it's bright. It pops. People will talk about this.

Chris Enroth: 24:35

You put this on your you put this one out and they'd be like, wow. I've never seen, like, leaf shape like that with your poinsettia. I I I really like this one too.

Ken Johnson: 24:47

Alright. And then next, we've got, Robin Marble. So this is another one Robin is a series. They've got marble red, pink, and white. I think we can show all those real quick, but Robin marble is another marbled, types.

Ken Johnson: 25:06

This one's got kinda yellowish bracts to them. And then the centers of these are pink. So you're not necessarily your traditional looking poinsettia color wise. But, yeah, they're they're kind of a muted colors, but they're still very they're not really bold and bright pink and yellow. A little more muted, but still very attractive at least in in my opinion.

Chris Enroth: 25:27

And this one came from, Beacon Camp Breeders, and they highlighted this one in their presentation. My notes on this one, they remarked that its 2 tone color, is one that will keep no matter how hot it gets. And so I they they mentioned specifically, you know, like, people who might be growing this down in the southern US, Texas, and Florida, you know, if you if you do have very hot weather and you have these outside, they will retain this color, no matter the the heat that it's exposed to. So it seems to be they they really seem to highlight the southern part of the US for this one.

Ken Johnson: 26:10

And then here you can see all all 4 of those, that Robin series, At least I think it was only 4 of them.

Chris Enroth: 26:18

Mhmm.

Ken Johnson: 26:18

But they had them all all 4 put together, so you're gonna kinda have the whole gamut here with kinda collection there. Very cool. And then our last one, is the princecetius sparkling rogue,

Chris Enroth: 26:34

which

Ken Johnson: 26:34

however you say that. Again, the princecetius is another, series of these. But this one's a little bit of a darker pink, color to it. But, again, on those on those racks and white coloring in there. And the white coloring is a little more intense towards the center of those racks.

Ken Johnson: 26:51

Towards the tips, it's a little more pink. So the centers are kind of more that white speckled blotches. And then, again, if you look at the picture, you can see that there's variation, within those plants as well.

Chris Enroth: 27:04

And this is this is from the breeder sun Suntory, and they describe their poinsettias as nontraditional types. I don't know quite that what that means. The traditional poinsettias kind of been thrown out the window after attending this, event. But what they remark is that the patterns on this is very stable. And so this they know that this is going to be very reliable.

Chris Enroth: 27:32

And, again, they're giving these presentations to, you know, big time commercial buyers, that will be purchasing vast quantities of these plants. And so they wanna make sure that they're relaying the the fact that, that sometimes it can be a bit variable in how these bracts color up, especially with some of these marbled ones. And and they're talking about how, these in particular are very stable on their patterns, and, you know, emphasizing the darker pink color, with the flecks of white within and the lighter pink with also on some of the lower, bracts true leaves. So one of the marbled plants out there that's part of the the the bigger series, the the Freya series, and they spell f r e, f I can't y a. F r e y a.

Chris Enroth: 28:25

I believe the the Norse goddess Freya, there's a j after the y. But there's a series so this one is the marble one of it, and, this is by Duman. And and I think I meant we mentioned earlier, I forgot to take notes during the Duman presentation, but in all of their advertising, they're very proud of this particular series. This is the marbled ones. They have white Freya series.

Chris Enroth: 28:48

They have white in their series red, and, the marble, and then the pink Freya. So this particular one, it seemed to be pretty uniform, throughout the this entire one where you can kind of see a very recognizable pattern going over these bracts. And I do have a picture also, which I can send, to Ken on my phone of all 4 of these in the series side by side, and that they're again, Duman is very proud of this particular series. And so and and I found them to all look very incredible. And and Freya, you know, it's another one of those.

Chris Enroth: 29:29

I I like the name. It's the goddess of of love and war in Norse mythology. So, yeah, what's not to like about that? And Freya's also rides on a horse or not. Freya rides on a chariot pulled by cats.

Chris Enroth: 29:48

Not lions, house cats, like cats.

Ken Johnson: 29:54

That I did not know.

Chris Enroth: 29:56

It's life goals. Training my house cats. Pull me on a chariot.

Ken Johnson: 30:03

Yeah. And there was there were many more marbled ones. I think we'll we'll call it call it a day for those today. Yeah. Maybe next week we'll get into the rest of them.

Chris Enroth: 30:13

Yeah. I'd I'd say before I forget mentioning on the podcast, like, if anyone listening or or watching, you know, if you encounter some interesting poinsettias, take a peek at that tag and and send us the information about that or post it in the comments. We'd always love to know if you're finding any interesting poinsettias or or if you even have a favorite, out there, that we don't mention.

Ken Johnson: 30:36

No. I don't think there was a marbled one out there that I did not like.

Chris Enroth: 30:41

Yeah. They're all just yeah. It's it's uncommon, at least in my neck of the woods, so I I enjoyed seeing them.

Ken Johnson: 30:48

Yeah. Maybe that's why. That was the novelty of it.

Chris Enroth: 30:51

That might have been. We'll get into some of those novelty ones. But for a second, let's talk about the white poinsettia. Now I did not think about this, but as they were as the different breeders were maybe highlighting or spotlighting some of their different white poinsettias, it was they're really emphasizing painting painting the Brax, which I guess is a thing. You know, when we look at, certain kind of things you could find.

Chris Enroth: 31:25

I have seen this at at the garden centers before. You know, these alien looking plants, you know, painted bright glittery blue or gold in color, but but that's what they use a lot of these white bragged poinsettias for, is to showcase some of these this paint, that they would spray onto these plants. But just in of themselves, I did go through and take several photographs of white poinsettias. So these are just a few of them. This is flurry white.

Chris Enroth: 32:01

Again, the color on this is not not what I was seeing. I think these are a little bit more brighter. However, it was still, maybe a bit more yellow in some of the tones on on almost all of these white poinsettias. But I I was still really I I I find them very, interesting, the the white bracts. But then, you know, I was looking at polar bear, but then I found what I think to be almost a true white, and that is Frozen, by Douman.

Chris Enroth: 32:32

You can see in the side by side comparison on the left, we have polar bear. Again, by itself, it would probably look, you know, like a bright white. But put that next to Frozen, which was a true, like, you know, absence of color, white. I I think Frozen, there was another one that I voted for, was one that, you know, again, maybe if you are a florist and you wanna do any painting, it would definitely stand out on on those pure white bracts on this one. But I think it it stands on its own too.

Chris Enroth: 33:08

So I I think just these it's very bright white. It was the brightest white one that I could find there. I don't know, Ken, if you might have found a different one, but some probably my favorite one and another one that I voted for was Frozen, not because I've seen the movie 5000 times with my young my children when they were a bit younger.

Ken Johnson: 33:25

Let it go.

Chris Enroth: 33:26

That's that's right. That's that's what we need to do. We just need to let it go. But yeah. Frozen.

Ken Johnson: 33:33

Yeah. I think it was definitely the whitest one. I go on through looking at pictures. It was like, oh, I thought this one was supposed to be white. This is more yellow.

Ken Johnson: 33:40

And then, yeah, you get to this one, and it is very obvious how much whiter it is than than pretty much any other, of the white cultivars that were there. Alright. Now we're hop on the crazy train here. Get into the kind of the offs work of I think they call them novelties. I think we're calling them more off season.

Ken Johnson: 34:02

Like, to me when I see these, I do not think Christmas. You know, with Christmas and it's the reds, the whites, maybe some of the darker pinks. But with these, in my opinion, anyway, I think they would be better. They're more of a fall autumn colors. I we'll talk about those first, but more fall, more oranges, than spring colors.

Ken Johnson: 34:24

You got a lot of really vibrant pinks and and other colors as well.

Chris Enroth: 34:30

Yeah. I these kind of captured me, though. They were sort of set aside in the back of the greenhouse and just kinda like, but I took more pictures of this row of poinsettias maybe than all the other ones. I just found them just like you have never seen colors like these before, on on this particular species. And, yeah, I I just I found it quite quite fascinating.

Chris Enroth: 34:59

Ken, this first one is autumn leaves. What did what did I mean, look at the color. What do you think about when you see this?

Ken Johnson: 35:07

Yeah. I'm thinking of this, but, like, Thanksgiving. We have poinsettia you'd put out for for Thanksgiving.

Chris Enroth: 35:13

Mhmm. Yeah. Exactly. It's sort of a kind of a reddish pinkish to peach colored, almost like hues of orange. I mean, it looks like fall, in a poinsettia.

Chris Enroth: 35:25

So, and that's how they said these would be marketed, is that they would be marketed as a, you know, get your apple cider, get your apples, get your pumpkins, and now you get your fall poinsettia. And so, you know, they're they're saying this is another, horticultural holiday item that you could have in in the pumpkin spice season. So, yeah, it looks like it kind of so this picture here is sort of I I kind of kneel down and I'm shooting over top of them. It almost looks like fall leaves on top of green grass with the the bracts being the leaves and then the true leaves down below, the green leaves being the grass.

Ken Johnson: 36:06

I like that shot.

Chris Enroth: 36:08

Yeah. And another one here very similar is Viking cinnamon. Again, just it it is it's a similar color palette, maybe a bit more red, than the than the autumn leaves. So at another just like yep. I I would definitely pick this up while, like, shopping for my pumpkin.

Chris Enroth: 36:34

I I feel like these would pair pretty amazing with mum's. You know? These 2 are different textures. Mum's have a much more finer texture. These have a much more broader leaf, a much more, coarser type texture.

Chris Enroth: 36:47

So, they they they're they're opposites, which means they they pair well together from a floral design standpoint, at least, in my in my opinion. But kind of the you know, one of the many, you know, novelty ones that I took a picture of was so of the the Christmas series, we we already talked about, they also have sort of that, fall, theme. But so this is a much more compact. So you can see on here on the sign that c, again, stands for compact. 8 weeks to induce flowering or the the coloration of those bracts.

Chris Enroth: 37:25

And, just, again, just a a very I don't know. It just kinda screams fall to me. You know? And so, I just really liked the this particular series. It's good.

Chris Enroth: 37:40

The series. I just like to say it. So

Ken Johnson: 37:44

Alright. Yeah. One more, I guess, our fall ones. And this is orange glow. You see very I don't know if it's quite this orange, but this is even after turning down saturation and vibrance in the picture.

Ken Johnson: 37:57

So, but a very orange, here. Maybe a little more even you know how to do Halloween here. Grow your get your orange poinsettia instead of a pumpkin or or to go along with it. And again, very very vibrant orange color on here. And there's another there are a few other orange ones.

Ken Johnson: 38:15

Can't think of what the the cultivars were. But there were there were there's at least one other orange cultivar there as well. So there's there's more than just orange glow. Norwin orange, is another was another orange cultivars. They're kinda similar look to it as well.

Ken Johnson: 38:32

Maybe flea is a little bit more broad, but kinda similar coloration to the to the butcher globe.

Chris Enroth: 38:38

And, sticking with the novelty. So we talked about, you know, extending our poinsettia season into the fall, but what about springtime? Well, guess what? They have types for that. They're working on more more of that.

Chris Enroth: 38:55

So, Ken, I think this particular one for the spring season, you know, as we we we and and pull poinsettias out of the wintertime, from fall and now into spring, This one, it didn't even look like a poinsettia at first. I mean, it just, almost knocked me over when I saw it. This is called it's called love you pink. It's like a hot pink color, and the leaves the or the bracts are are just structured like a flower. It looks like a a big flower, almost like a hydrangea flower.

Chris Enroth: 39:33

I mean, it just looks massive. Yeah. In the shape. Yeah. Dahlia.

Chris Enroth: 39:37

Yeah. Mhmm.

Ken Johnson: 39:39

Yeah. Yeah. This is like you said. This is when I when I saw that. If I would have been at a Poinsettia trial, I never would have guessed.

Chris Enroth: 39:45

Mhmm.

Ken Johnson: 39:46

Maybe eventually, but that that would not be the first thing that came to mind.

Chris Enroth: 39:50

Yeah. The the closed flower buds in the middle are this, like, bright green, which contrasts with these hot pink petals. And is it my eyes? Do you see the white fringe? Like, do you see a, like, kind of a a faint white line on the margin of these bracts?

Ken Johnson: 40:09

Yeah. A little bit. See if the picture I took is that. Yeah. The pictures I have of it, yeah, I have that white.

Ken Johnson: 40:16

But I don't know if I noticed that when we were there.

Chris Enroth: 40:20

Well, yeah. I I I'm it really only seems to stand out maybe more on these photographs. Now in this image here, I kinda get the underside of one of those bracts, and you can see it's a much lighter color. And so maybe that's where that that white, edge is coming from. But it just it's really interesting because each bract has this little outline on the outside, which, you know, I when I'm, like, coloring with crayons with my kids or something, like, a really good way to get something to pop is you outline it with some contrasting color.

Chris Enroth: 40:51

And, yeah, I'll I this one was was a favorite for me. Man, it just it springs springs. It screams spring.

Ken Johnson: 41:02

Yeah. And the 3rd party I voted for this one. Yeah. And I don't you know, I've never seen this in stores. I don't know how widely commercially available it is and when it's being sold.

Ken Johnson: 41:11

I'm not sure how popular would it be at Christmas time, but I think, you know, if you could figure out a way to grow that and and disperse it in the spring, I think that could be a a popular one. Alright. We'll stick with the the pink theme here. Here is enduring pink. So not nearly as vibrant.

Ken Johnson: 41:30

A little more again muted colors, maybe a little darker. The newer ones in the middle, a little bit darker pink. Older ones or bigger ones are a little bit lighter pink. So you got kinda couple different colors of pink here. But again, some of these have got a little more of the the frilly leaves to them, I guess, for lack of a better term or I don't know the technical term for that.

Ken Johnson: 41:50

So some some unique leaf shape in there as well. But again, that nice pink color, I think maybe this one, you could probably get away with selling at Christmas time. But because it's got a little bit of that darker pink in there, but it's still, I think, a little more springy feel to it than than your traditional, poincenia.

Chris Enroth: 42:11

Yeah. Definitely feels tropical when you look at this one. You know, it could definitely work maybe outside the the holiday season.

Ken Johnson: 42:19

Right. And then another one here, these, is Mars pinks again. Very similar looking. You've got the lighter pink, and then some darker pink bracts on there as well. Again, they just kind of blend well.

Ken Johnson: 42:31

You've got all those different colors in there. Yep. You can see here. And kinda the other lower bracts, a little bit lighter. And then as you kinda go up and and towards the center, they get darker.

Ken Johnson: 42:39

So I get nice nice spray of that. And the veins are a little bit darker pink on the lighter ones. Those pop out pretty nicely as well.

Chris Enroth: 42:48

This is maybe the this one I know when we were there, we commented that if we didn't know better, we would think some of these were sick. There's some kind of nutrient deficiency on some of them. Yeah. Just the the the paler bracts, and there's a few darker ones, and then the you can see the the veins pretty distinctly here. Yeah.

Chris Enroth: 43:11

If someone brought this into the office, I would say, oh, you have a sick red poinsettia. You know, it's it's not getting something or it's getting too much of something. But, no, this is this is supposed to be like this. It's very it it it it goes against some of the plant diagnosis we've gone through in

Ken Johnson: 43:27

our lives. Yeah. This one and like a lot of the, the white ones too. Some of them looked a little sickly.

Chris Enroth: 43:36

Yes. And we looked. We couldn't find any, white flies or anything on there. So

Ken Johnson: 43:42

you know? To our to our disappointment. But then they did a good job of oh, I'd say probably cleaning them up. Yes. Yeah.

Ken Johnson: 43:53

I'm sure they had problems.

Chris Enroth: 43:54

Mhmm. They nuked them before they showed them to us.

Ken Johnson: 44:00

Another pink one here. So this is Princetia queen shell pinks. Again, the the Princetia line, there there's quite a few cultivars. This one is a little more pinky pink. I don't know.

Ken Johnson: 44:10

Bubblegum pink, maybe. But these have the the bracts are a little more ruffled looking. So, again, just that a different texture, especially from your your normal quote unquote normal leaves. The bracts are a little more ruffly looking here, kinda wavy, margins on them and stuff. So again, just a different color, different, leaf texture, stuff.

Ken Johnson: 44:32

And the leaves are still kinda stacked a little bit as well. Kinda makes them look even more frilly.

Chris Enroth: 44:37

You did you edit this one?

Ken Johnson: 44:41

A little bit.

Chris Enroth: 44:42

Not too much. Let me share mine real quick. It looks totally different. The color looks different. Right?

Chris Enroth: 44:50

It's, like, brighter. This is the Prince Edea. This just goes to show, like, the the taking pictures in a greenhouse just really messes with cameras. They can't really capture. I don't and and I can't remember which one is more true.

Chris Enroth: 45:08

Like, whose picture would be more true? I I would have no idea. I would have to go back and look, and I can't.

Ken Johnson: 45:16

Yeah. It didn't white balance on mine.

Chris Enroth: 45:18

I did not do anything to mine. So I'm I'm guessing

Ken Johnson: 45:22

The

Chris Enroth: 45:22

yours are probably a bit more accurate because mine are it's a little bit washed out when you see the the white sign there. So, anyway, I just thought that was interesting. You showed that.

Ken Johnson: 45:31

I'm

Chris Enroth: 45:32

like, mine's, like, lighter pink. I think we got

Ken Johnson: 45:42

2 more here.

Chris Enroth: 45:44

Yes.

Ken Johnson: 45:45

So I'll leave the pink and go to yellow. So here's, golden glow. Again, assuming relative of orange glow or kinda that glow series we'll we'll call it. Again, very, you know, nice vibrant yellow, colors to these. That almost looks like a little bit like a sunflower, there with the the true flowers open in the middle there.

Ken Johnson: 46:09

So again, just a different color. I don't know how how many people would buy this in the Christmas season. I mean, if I saw it, I would just because it's cool. But

Chris Enroth: 46:21

Yeah. This this does feel more springtime. It could probably even go for fall as well. You know, I could see this being, like like, look really neat next to some goldenrod or aster or something like that, in the fall, but this is just, yeah, you don't see many bright yellow poinsettias around December in people's homes. People you know, but we still have maybe that that traditional, impulse for those red and sometimes white ones, you know.

Chris Enroth: 46:54

So but I definitely like this one.

Ken Johnson: 46:59

Last one we picked out was green envy. So this is a kind of a yellowish green poinsettia, for for the racks. So this is one that maybe, you know, if you didn't know any better, may look a little sickly. Mhmm. Little little more yellow yellow green, a little more towards the yellow than the green on there.

Ken Johnson: 47:18

But, again, it just just show there's another another color that's out there somewhere.

Chris Enroth: 47:23

Yeah. It it almost the bracts, some of them were turning a little bit whitish. And so you're like, oh, is this gonna turn white? But, no, it's just yellowy green color.

Ken Johnson: 47:38

And, the queasness, there was a was it mojito? Oh, yes. That was that was more of a green light green. So that one, I don't know if I've got that picture. So here is pito here.

Ken Johnson: 47:55

I don't remember what was next to it. But you can see it's smaller. So, you know, if you're watching this on YouTube, you can see that backpack and the water bottle, in the background. They're sticking that I mean, these plants are not much taller than a a water bottle. It was 16 ounce water bottles nowadays.

Ken Johnson: 48:12

Shock from 20.

Chris Enroth: 48:14

Mhmm.

Ken Johnson: 48:14

I mean, again, well, this one's a little more green to it than that green envy. And then we'd when we were talking to the the guy that from this company, he was talking about, you know, a little bit of their, I guess, marketing strategy. Maybe what they were recommending is, you know, if you've got something like this, the mojito, you know, put that in the alcohol section. So when people are buying their stuff from the mojitos, you know, here's your mojito poinsettia to go along with it and and kinda disperse these these smaller ones throughout the store on shelving. So when people are are going through a little bit more of that impulse buy, because they're just sitting out in the store available in different places and stuff.

Chris Enroth: 48:52

Just, you know, if you have those compact plants, name it after food or drinks. It's a great marketing way to, get your stuff in the stores.

Ken Johnson: 49:03

Let's see here. We got, 2 more I'll share here. Okay. So we're talking about white Wednesdays. Here's another painted one that was oh, I've never thought, you know, painted like so again, if you're watching if you're not watching, and then the kind of behind this one, you've got gold nice sparkly gold ones.

Ken Johnson: 49:26

This other one is kind of a a tie dye. You've got blue and green and orange and red and yellow. Very decorative, look.

Chris Enroth: 49:35

Very watercolor y Yes. In appearance.

Ken Johnson: 49:38

But another cool thing there, I had these almost like trees, poinsettia trees here. So you have the stock, bare stock, that and then the the poinsettia on top of it. I don't know how they grew this, if this was grafted on there, if this was a older plant that they let grow up, remove the top grafted something on there where they let it grow up and then remove the bottom branches, and then pinched to get a nice and bushy. But, kinda just just set of points that I've never seen seen them for sale like that before. Just another interesting kinda like the, like a topiary, almost.

Chris Enroth: 50:16

I noticed they did have to be staked probably because they're so top heavy. I I do I would suspect you had branching all down along the length of that main stem. They probably just pop those off. You know, when I zoom into my picture of them, I see leaf scars all along there. Yes.

Chris Enroth: 50:40

They don't look terribly fresh. So they look like they've definitely calloused over. Yeah. So if you can grow your poinsettia out, for a longer time, you could definitely get taller taller, bigger ones. You know?

Chris Enroth: 50:55

They they are a perennial and a shrub, I would call that, in their native range down to Mexico. So yeah. And I have had my poinsettia. I've had it survive through the winter. I planted outside.

Chris Enroth: 51:07

They can get very big. They get quite large out during the summer months.

Ken Johnson: 51:13

There you go. What's your goal for next year? Topiary.

Chris Enroth: 51:17

Yes. It'll pluck up all the the leaves on the lower and then people be like, what in the world is that plant? Is that it?

Ken Johnson: 51:29

That's that's everything on the list anyway.

Chris Enroth: 51:34

Well, that was a lot of information about poinsettias. You're probably sick and tired of hearing about them now, but but don't be so sick and tired that you don't go out and maybe buy 1 or 2, and support the industry. It was really a very just educational experience going there, learning about poinsettias, and the production of them. All the work and the effort, the breeding, the thought, the money, it goes behind this one species of plant that originated in Mexico and, is just grown out and now, used to celebrate the holiday season all over the world. Well, the Good Growing Podcast is a production of University of Illinois Extension edited this week by Ken Johnson.

Chris Enroth: 52:24

Hey, Ken. Thank you for traveling with me down to, where were we? We still Columbia and, Illinois where we stayed. And then, yeah, Milstead, where we went to this, the the poinsettia trial. So we had a good time.

Ken Johnson: 52:42

I guess we never mentioned the name. It's the Angie Hymos greenhouse. This is about 17th year they did it. So Don and Mel said. Yep.

Ken Johnson: 52:53

Good time.

Chris Enroth: 52:54

Good time. Enjoy it. And just I think it was was free to register. Again, this is really more geared towards brokers and buyers. You know, I saw people with, like, Schnucks and Costco, you know, people buying for large retail chains out there, are there.

Chris Enroth: 53:15

That's who they're catering to. So, you know, plant nerds like us, they're just like, ah, yeah, you guys go take your pictures and we'll answer your questions if you got any.

Ken Johnson: 53:24

I do think they had an open house for the general public Mhmm. Later in the week. So

Chris Enroth: 53:30

Yeah.

Ken Johnson: 53:30

People are interested up for that.

Chris Enroth: 53:32

Yep. And you you can definitely learn a lot about this particular industry.

Ken Johnson: 53:38

Yes. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you for, letting me talk you into that and to go next year too and take better notes.

Chris Enroth: 53:45

Yes.

Ken Johnson: 53:47

And let's do this again next week.

Chris Enroth: 53:50

Oh, we shall do this again next week. It will likely be a garden bite because it's just getting darker and darker. The solstice is coming up. You know me. I'm gonna go out and dance around a fire and celebrate the longest night of the year.

Chris Enroth: 54:05

So, but but listeners, thank you for doing what you do best, and that is listening. Or if you're watching us on YouTube watching. And as always, keep on growing.

Ken Johnson: 54:25

Alright.

Chris Enroth: 54:26

Let's kick this puppy off. I'm already hoarding, so you'll have a fair chunk to cut out there.

Ken Johnson: 54:33

Half hour amount takes.

Chris Enroth: 54:37

It's a long podcast. Nope. Not really.