When I lived in Menlo Park, CA a neighbor planted two Poinsettias on either side of the beginning of her front walkway to the front door. Over time she trimmed/pruned them to be about 6-7 ft small trees with canopy. Pretty amazing. They were thriving for about 15 years that I know of... and that part of the US is anything but tropical.

Hetty, do you know how the white leaf Poinsettias are created?

I had a poinsettia hedge when I was stationed in Hawaii, but I wasn't there long enough to see if it turned red. I sure wish I could plant them outside here!

We kept a poinsettia in a north window in my office. It received no direct light and the office was always very cool in the winter/spring, long sleeves and sweaters cool. It grew so fast it nearly took over the office. I gave it just a small watering once a week, so it was on the dry side most of the time. Even before we covered it for turning red, it was a very nice looking house plant, so don't throw it away after Christmas.

Susie, it is a naturally occurring variety as far as I can tell. There are now so many hybrid varieties, the pinks, the curly red ones. This year I have seen one with almost black foliage for the first time.

I grew them in the ground inland in San Diego County. As long as protected from frost, they did fine. Zones 9 and up is what they usually list for poinsettias.

We kept our office poinsettia in a south-facing window w/street lights, watered almost every day, never trimmed it. Pretty much everything that you could do wrong, we did wrong. Silly thing is now about 2' tall and has the red leaves all over the place. It's pretty scraggly on the bottom, but the top 10" has beautiful red leaves. Never got the total darkness (street lights), was kept at about 70degs during the spring, was fried in the summer (we don't turn on the AC in the summer on weekends, no one is here)... etc. In the winter, office gets down into the 50s at night (no heat is on.. why heat up an empty office?). Not bad for a $4 poinsettia!

Goes to show you.....

I love that!! Some plants can be so adaptable.

That's great! We should all be so lucky!

I found this about the parentage of the white Poinsettia http://www.patentgenius.com/pa...
http://www.patentgenius.com/pa...

Thanks, Lynn. Re the white plant.
Interesting to read about the mutation and even more interesting to read about it by the guy who caused it. I bought 4 @ 8 inch red poinsettia at Costco for $17 this year. Doing well. I think I'll try to keep them alive. Who knows what will happen at 110 degrees (if they get that far).

My DIL has one she kept from last year. She keeps it in a deep window that faces south. It is doing very well, even if it doesn't color up.

I got a through away from Walmart just so I could take photos of the rose shaped leaves it has. So unusual. I think I will try to keep it alive.

That is usually how new varieties are created. The same goes for variegation in foliage plants. Of course there are chemical ways to induce variegation too.

Hmm, wonder if they'll be on sale now....

I've seen the white, pink, variegated and yellow. Yellow and pink would be cute at Easter

Easter poinsettias!

KyWoods said:Hmm, wonder if they'll be on sale now....

Most likely.

My favorite has always been the curly-leaved one. I hope there are some of those left!