Poinsettias Were Once "Weeds?"

I just read an interesting article about the poinsettia; the not-so-traditional Christmas plant. Did you know that until 1828, this plant was a flowering roadside weed growing in Mexico? In 1928, the U.S. ambassador to Mexico, Joel Poinsett, brough the plant to the United States; and the following year, "poinsettias" were exhibited at a flower show. It wasn't until a century later, however, that the flower was cultivated and marketed as a Christmas flower, by a California man named Paul Ecke. Since the plants bloom naturally at Christmastime, he sold the flowers at a roadside stand on Sunset Boulevard. Now, the Paul Ecke Ranch produces 50 percent of the world's poinsettias, and three quarters of the nation's supply. Amazingly, all of these plants are no longer grown in fields, but are all cultivated in huge green houses!

To order your own Ecke poinsettias or to learn more about the Eck family ranch, visit the Ecke family ranch website.