In my experience, Diane, most don't even make it to Boxing Day - I leave my poinsettia purchase until the last possible moment, a day or two before Christmas Eve if possible, in hopes it'll make it through Christmas Day and Boxing day. In 15 years, I've had two plants that not only survived, but were still alive six months later - all the others were goners in short order. About five years ago, Tesco were foolish enough to promise to replace a plant if it didn't last till January - that year, I bought one late November/early December, took it back, wilted, a week later, took that one back a week later, and the next one back a week later, so I did have one for Christmas day, which also wilted and didn't make it to New Year's Eve. They've stopped guaranteeing them now of course...

I don't know why this happens, but its likely that the 'hothousing' they receive as they grow means they can't take the shock of being removed from their perfect environment. I've no idea whether they're grown in 24 hour daylight, but that's extremely unlikely - Poinsettia needs some weeks of darkness to produce its red bracts.

there are several large growers in the uk . certainly they need a dark regime to get them to colour up, then 24hrs will help them put on more growth.
the cause of leaf fall is the fact the plant has gone from warm to cold/draughts. just walking from the shop to the car on a frosty day is enough . It will re-leaf for you :o)

At work, we rarely have leaf drop, while they are with us. We keep them outside, under a shade screen. Light levels are higher than the average living room, but not nearly 24 hours. Temps get pretty chilly at night, and not that high in the day, but they aren't exposed to frost: range from 7º to 21º C. I suspect that most problems are caused by low light levels and too warm temps.

Well it might SBG, we've never had any luck and if you've lost the red bracts best to simply chuck it on the compost and, as Bamboo says, buy one just before Christmas. Think I'll stick with the flowering cyclamen they are not quite s demanding. A god few years back now we bought indoor plants for Christmas at an outdoor Christmas Market - guess what? Yup they all died!

I've just come back fromTesco, where I had a look at their stock of poinsettia - around a quarter of those on display are already wilting or going black in parts. And they're not dry, I checked... I think I'll try and find a Christmas cherry instead, much more reliable, if you can find one

That's so useful! Btw, what is a Christmas cherry, Bamboo??

Oh sorry Sheilabub, naughty me - Solanum capicastrum, also sometimes called Jerusalem cherry... but they're never as cheap as poinsettia and for some reason, you're more likely to find one on a florist's stall than a supermarket at this time of year. Sometimes you can find a red Kalanchoe blossfeldiana at the supermarket though.

Lots of good advice here. Thank you everybody.
My Poinsettia is still looking good, well the top half of it anyway. The Dwarf Cyclamen werent very happy, so I put the pots standing round the Poinsettia under the strip light
and they perked up within hours.
Fascinating.

These helpful replies have taught us. If you dont have a strip light in the house giving daylight lighting, its best not to accept or buy a Poinsettia this Christmas.

Dwarf cyclamen require natural light not strip lighting... they grow naturally in slightly shady conditions. Had you, perhaps, overwatered them and the strip light helped to dry them out? The lighting in our dining room isn't bright and they d ovine there for several weeks.

Poinsettia is the perfect plant for retailers. Cut flowers will, of course, only last a short time so the sales period is only for a few days. Selling a plant extends the sales period.

What you have to watch is that the plant doesn't survive and destroy your sales the following year.

Poinsettia fulfills those requirements. All that was needed was to find (create?) some folklore linking the giving of the plant to Christmas and you're off.

As with so many things, the buying of poinsettia at Christmas was a US thing before coming to this side of the Atlantic.

I've never had a problem with normal lightbulbs just need to watch the watering and avoid draughts. mum never left hers on the windowsill behind the curtains as it got too cold for them.

I really don't like the other colours that are now available. it has to be the red one or I feel 'cheated' :o)

Diane I copied this from a blog I wrote in 2012. It is named 'Will the real Poinsetta please stand up'.
"Finally a word on choosing and looking after your poinsettia. They do not like draughts or changes in atmosphere, so make sure you protect them by wrapping them well before you leave the shop. If you are going to several shops try and make the one where you are buying your plant the last stop before going home. They don’t mind being a bit dehydrated and do not like the cold so warm or hot and dry are a good rule of thumb. To water when they are drying out plonk them in a bowl of water for an hour and let them have a drink. If they lose their green leaves do not worry that happens where they grow in the wild. Do not buy plants with withered or diseased leaves or stems. Enjoy."

They have also used them in public displays in Spain for years...

Poinsettia Day 4........ 5.30 a.m.
Two more 'petals' shrivelled, fell off. The very top growth seems ok so far.
I have a better understanding now of what went wrong.
Granddaughter in a rush to get to school for 8 a.m..
Early morning shop because of rushing off abroad for the Christmas break.
I am deaf, dont hear the door knocker. So she put the Christmas card through the letter box, left plant on the doorstep in the frosty weather. I didnt think to look outside.
Plant had been brought to supermarket (? from Spain)and left overnight on a lorry in the cold. Then brought to my doorstep in the cold. So it got a double dose. I found it at 10 a.m.
It is now 'in hospital' under the strip light.
All I can do is take its photo (Minolta camera with film)
and hope.

Thank you for all the comments, especially Moongrower.
Have now moved the Dwarf Cyclamen onto the kitchen windowsill. Geraniums flowering well on the lounge windowsill (keeping them for the balcony half baskets next summer). Fluffy Cactus happy as a lark on bedroom windowsill facing south, growing well now.
Its where indoor plants are placed that is important.

Poinsietta Day 5........5 a.m.........Just put the light on again. Inspected the stems with reading glasses on and a magnifying glass.
Some new green leaves seem to be emerging on the stems.
Maybe I have saved it !
Thats 16 hours a day under the strip light. Temp.19 deg.C.

My son said " Have you ever seen one still growing later in
the year ? " answer " No. I will ask them on Goy."

I had, as I said, two survive - one was still going strong the following Christmas, but without red bracts, and I couldn't be bothered to do all the darkness for weeks faffing about routine to induce it to produce them,so I bought a new one. They're not startingly attractive plants without their red bracts anyway.

Now I have done the faffing about several times, first time brilliant second time no bracts as I found out later my daughter [8 at the time] kept looking in the box to see if it was going red. So they got light that prevented red bract formation.
Not really worth the windowsill space . and as they are some cheap now I wouldn't faff about again.

Agree simply not worth all the gaffing around, I've certainly kept going but bot done the darkness bit and composted...

I have contacted our M.P. asking if Zones can be created for plants in U.K., as in North America and Canada. Over there plants simply cannot be sold in a different Zone, its not allowed.
Poinsiettias grown in Central Spain, and transported in unheated container lorries across France with possibly 3 overnight stops to comply with driver regulations before they get to Kettering Tesco, then watered with a cold water hosepipe by a shop assistant, would never be allowed in North America. Are they described as 'house plants' to avoid any regulations ?
Will keep everyone informed.

Zoning the UK would be much more difficult than zoning the US. We are a small country with a maritime climate whilst the US is huge with a continental climate personally I'm not sure that zoning would work. Talking with Bulba he doesn't see it as a possibility either. I think given how cheap something like a Poinsettia is you accept it as being ephemeral...just like a bouquet of cut flower, especially if it has been bought from somewhere like Tesco where they have no idea how to care for plants and no interest in either.

Erm, one of my gardening books (The Contained Garden) carries a map of the UK and Europe with Zones marked - most of the UK is Zone 7 (min temps 5-10 degC) to 8 (10-20 degC), with some Zone 9 mostly on Western coasts, including Ireland. I don't consider it entirely accurate - many parts of the UK do experience below zero temperatures during winter, so I'd put us as Zone 6 or Zone 7.

Well we'd be a 6 at best. But it doesn't take into account the rapid changes in temperature, we live about 2 miles from the Moray Firth in a straight line, the temperature went from -5˚C to +13˚C in less than forty eight hours. Some winters we have a lot of frost and snow, others the ground is barely frosted... Inland at, say, Aviemore it can be -18˚C for days and days in winter.

I noticed the Moray firth had a quite shocking difference in temperature from one day to the next this week, saw it on the weather forecast! We did here in London, but nowhere near as extreme as yours was. But then our weather patterns are all awry anyway these days...

One of the reasons I don't think zones work for the UK :) You simply have to use common sense, or ask!

Oh I don't know, the zone system is only to work out the lowest temperatures in an average year, so it is of some use - though arguably less so during the next decade or so, with climate change. The USA has revised their zones in the last two or three years, with most areas moving up or halfway up into the next zone because its less cold.

I'm not sure where Diane read that. Poinsettias and other plants are transported across Zones all of the time. We get bedding from near Prescott, AZ--Zone 6a--while we are Zone 9b. My bonsai supplier is in Bellingham, Massachusetts, and they get plants from both coastal California and south Florida.

The Zones in Canada were mentioned by a Canadian email friend. Seemed very strict.
My Poinsiettia is beginning to look very unhappy. More of the leaves and red 'petals' are shrivelling and dropping off.
Despite every care, it seems doomed.
I dont agree with buying these plants instead of fresh flowers at Christmas, then throwing them in the bin.
They are a creation, and deserve a chance of life.
I have done my best, can do no more.
Thank you to everyone for your kindness and interest.

Well neither you nor your GD knew how to look after so you are ending up with a dead Poinsettia... all flowers are a creation whether they are plants or cut flowers makes no difference. The suppliers know that your average Joe Blogs is going to bin anyway! I'm no longer sure what your complaint is Diane.

I do not buy Poinsettias nowadays because we cannot offer the conditions they like. I'm afraid yours was doomed from the minute it was dumped on your doorstep if not before. Put it down to experience (or lack of). It is nice to think someone cares enough about plants that they try and do all they can to save them. When or if a lack of demand becomes apparent shops will stop selling them. Even garden centre staff fail to care properly for all the plants in their care. I benefit by buying up those rejects (often only need a good drink) and am happy to save them but I know there is no quick fix for the poinsettia.

When our M.P. responds I will tell him I think inside the
Arctic Circle north of Spitzbergen Island should be Zone One (Gordon Buchanan 'Snow Wolves' programme showed plants flowering in the summer months ).
Zone Two should be South of Spitzbergen Island to the
Orkneys, southern Norway and Sweden, Finland, Latvia.
Zone Three the United Kingdom to Paris ,
The Netherlands, North Germany, north Poland.
Zone Four Central France and Southern Germany to
Nice.
Zone Five Spain and Italy.
Mountains above 2000 metres height graded according to the above Zones. Therefore you cannot sell Apricot
trees in Zone One but they flourish and fruit in Zone Four.

Ah! There must be a different Zone system that your Canadian friend is referring to. I am used to the USDA Zones, the similar Arnold Arboretum Zones, and the quirkier, though more useful in the West, Western Garden Book Zones. In the U.S., all of these zones are advisory, only, with no force of law behind them: nurseries that try to sell banana plants in North Dakota, or cherry trees here in the low desert, will lose their reputation among the local gardening community, but won't suffer any legal repercussions.

Thank you Tug. The most interesting yet. Our Member of Parliament has been on holiday.
I have now copied out my proposed Zone List and will send it with detail from your comments to him.
In this country Members of Parliament are up to date with any changes in Government Departments, so he will just send it all to the Secretary of State for the Environment or whoever is the best person to deal with this.
This person will reply personally to me by post. It may be some time.

Many, many letters to answer, I'm sure!

No prizes for guessing where the Govt. Dept. people will send it ............Kew Gardens.

Good luck in receiving a response... I doing you will or, it will be very off hand!

Lord Gardiner Of Kimble P/US of State DEFRA,
Nobel House, 17 Smith Square, London SW1P 3JR.

Plant Zones. I am writing on behalf of my constituent
Diane Bulley, who has been kind enough to take the time
and trouble to contact me with regard to her support for the introduction of plant zones to control the movement
and sale of plants.

I enclose a copy of the emails Diane sent to me, which describes her concerns extremely well.

I would be most grateful if you would be kind enough please to use use your good offices on behalf of Her Majesty's Government to consider Diane's concerns and to advise how they might best be addressed.
Thank you, Yours sincerely, Philip Hollobone, Member of
Parliament for the Kettering Constituency.

The excellent information sent by Tugbretil was included in these emails.