Poinsettias can transition from Christmas into New Year's decorations by adding a little flair to them.

Purchase dried, curly ting ting from your local florist supply shop, and you can place the stems among the poinsettia foliage. Ting ting comes in silver, gold, red, green and natural. Floral supply shops also carry spray glitter that is safe for plants. Simply changing the container or decorative wrap will also freshen up the plants to carry into next year.

Poinsettias are native to Central America and tropical Mexico. A botanist and diplomat named Joel Robert Poinsett, who served as a United States ambassador to Mexico from 1825 to 1829, is credited with making this plant known throughout the world.

Poinsettias of today look much different than those Poinsettas found growing in the tropics. Short, bushy types have been developed for indoor holiday decoration. Intensive hybridization has resulted in beautiful new colors, including cream, yellow, peach, pink, improved reds and marbled and speckled bracts. The modern hybrids also hold their color for many weeks, so you can enjoy them through the holidays and into the New Year.

The brilliant color of the poinsettia does not come from the flowers, but rather the bracts. Bracts, often mistaken for flower petals, are actually modified leaves. The true flowers, called cyathia, are small, yellow buttons in the center of the colorful bracts, which begin to form as the days shorten in November and December.

POINSETTIA CARE

To ensure healthy-looking plants for New Year's, follow these tips from the University of Hawai'i Cooperative Extension agents. It is good to keep poinsettias near a window where they will get bright light; however, extreme heat will wilt the foliage.

Water your plants when the growing medium is dry to the touch. Use cool tap water, and allow water to drain out the bottom of the pot. Never allow the plants to stand in water more than 30 minutes. Excess water causes the roots to die from a lack of oxygen and root-rotting diseases. Decorative wraps can trap water and suffocate the roots. Be sure to let all water drain from the pots by piercing the decorative wrap or taking the pots out of the decorative wrap before watering.

Although it is a time-consuming effort, poinsettias can be kept all year round to display again next year.

Information on how to keep your poinsettias through the year can be obtained by calling the O'ahu Master Gardeners on weekdays 9 a.m. to 12 p.m., at 453-6055. Even those with bright green thumbs suggest leaving it up to the experts, i.e. our local nursery growers, who could use your support by purchasing fresh beautiful poinsettias each year.

Hau'oli Makahiki Hou!

Jayme Grzebik is an urban horticulturist with the University of Hawai'i's College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources Cooperative Extension Service. Reach her at grzebik@hawaii.edu.