Sunday, August 18, 2013

Poinsettia or Noche Buena

Well it's both but known as La Flor de Noche Buena here in Mexico (Christmas flower). Mine was one of three plants in a pot that I bought for the Cissus vine. They were so entangled I planted them together as is. The third plant is long gone but the Noche Buena grew to about 2.5 feet last year and was very pretty but didn't look like the Poinsettias you see up north. They are considered annuals up north because they can't take the cold but are native to Mexico and are actually perennials.

So for some reason last winter the plant looked old and tired and nearly dried up - so I cut it back to nothing. Very surprised a few months ago to see a few popping up near the original and now coming up as much as 10 feet away. So many that I have been digging them up and putting them in pots. So the question is are these starting from seed as there is no sign of runners off the original. They have individual root systems. Noche Buena is classified as a shrub or tree and can grow to 10 feet so we'll see what happens to some of these this year with better care.

The Poinsettia got it's US name from Joel Poinsett who was the first ambassador to Mexico and he introduced it up north. Lots of legends in Mexico from Early Christian times back to the Aztecs which are fun to read but pretty typical legends.

What you´d expect to see up north around Christmas

Mine in the garden

A few I´ve put in pots



2 comments:

Barbara said...

It must be seeds possibly transferred by the wind or birds. The seeds are in the stamen. I have a tree that is at least 6 ft high. I hack it back and it gets stronger and taller. I saved the poinsettas from last Christmas and they are doing well in pots. The tree is in the soil. I've never looked for more "volunteers"
which is what plants are called that seed on their own. Now I'm going to go look! Thanks for the post.

sparks said...

I think it must be seeds and they are volunteering well. The one last year didn't turn as red as the first picture but since there are over 100 types of Poinsettias and they grow wild here .... who knows.


I'm surprised at the number of plants in my garden that volunteer in one way or the other.

The construction of the house finished in April 2011 and I'm pretty much settled in. As of March 2014 I'm in preparation for rain mode for this coming summer. That includes sealing and painting things and dealing with drainage issues from last year.

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