Poinsettia

I do not have a green thumb.  In fact, I’m more prone to killing a plant than having it survive.  So who would have guessed that last year’s poinsettia would sprout the red leaf.  I’ve never gone on line to see what makes a new bud be green or red. 

Normally, my annual poinsettia gets tossed around February or March because it gets too leggy and has few leaves.  But,the one from last Christmas decided it was happy.  It stayed quite compact.  Two weekends ago I noticed a tiny red bud.  Last weekend I could see that it was definitely going to be a red leaf.  This is what it looks like today.   

Notice how I’ve only mentioned weekend.  That’s my normal watering day.  I might fertilize in the spring or summer if I remember to.  The rest of the week my plants are more or less on their own.  

Not sure if this year’s poinsettia will be as happy.  It’s smaller.  Only a couple of leaves have dropped off since December.  So far it looks to be a keeper.  I might try tansplant one outside this spring.