Poinsettia in kitchen 2009-12-19 001

Pretty red.

I have two not looking as good as last years though. Thanks for the link will take a peep.;0)

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I found the information there was quite good. I find the pruning times to be particularly useful.

I've never been able to get them to turn red eventhough they live for a few years

Managed to save ours from last year..more by luck than skill. Was given sound advice from Delonix !

If you follow the link I've put under the photo you will get some good advice on how to do it.

The "secret" to getting the "flowers", (they're really bracts, i.e, modified leaves & not petals, as I'm sure you already know), to turn red in time for Christmas is to put them in a light free cupboard for about 14 hours a day.

When I grew them in Spain I used to cover them with a big black plastic bag & put them in a cupboard that was seldom opened in the evenings. I always started doing this when my children went back to school after the summer holidays. They need all light to be excluded or it will take longer for them to flower. You must do this every night for at least 2 months. By then they will have begun to turn red & anyway the daylight hours have reduced a great deal & it not so important to keep them in the dark.

I did the same this year & lo & behold it flowered again. Our friend, whose plant it was, felt impressed that I had got it to flower again!

Thanks for this Balcony..link filed away for future reference.

Very good, BB, but don't forget, if you have a plant of these, that next year's results depend also on what we do with our plants this year!

Cheers..will try to do the right thing !

I shall have to take my own advice - my daughter has given me one for Christmas! LOL!

I've uploaded a couple of photos I took of them this morning. It's a very nice plant & I hope to keep it growing this year so I can have it flowering for next Christmas.