Poinsettia Season... And a Happy New Year!

Poinsettias are everywhere this month, and they make a pretty and easy gift.
I bought 3 small poinsettias very inexpensively.  I  re-used a woven wooden basket as my planter.  A plastic garbage bag works as a liner; I simply cut it down to size. After arranging the plants in the basket, I added a few pieces of wet floral foam block before filling in the rest of the basket with extra potting soil. This flower arrangement is destined for my mother-in-law's nursing home, and the foam pieces help hold the moisture in this dry environment where watering tends to be sporadic. Once the planting is complete, I roll the extra plastic into the inner edge. Spanish moss around the edge is the finishing touch; it hides the plastic and gives a nice finished look.  Voila! A good looking planting for my mother-in-law for less than $10.

We've always had good luck with poinsettias. See Poinsettias in July 

Our oldest, biggest poinsettia has not sprouted any red leaves so far this year. However, another smaller one that we summered over on the patio has.  All it takes is a couple of small red leaves to get us very excited.  And not to worry about the big poinsettia... it's an easy fix.  A couple of large artificial branches and it's a big, beautiful, blooming poinsettia!






Last year's poinsettia sprouts red leaves again!



The poinsettia plant is real; We've been growing it for years. It didn't sprout red leaves for us this year, so I added a few artificial flowers.  Problem solved!  :)